Stone 06.06.06 Vertical Epic Ale

From bomber. Dark, ruby pour with thin tan head. Nose is burnt Belgian candy sugar, anise(?) and vanilla. Flavor follows with alcohol in the finish. Palate is smooth. Another one that needs to sit.

I’m glad that our hosts of the afternoon broke out this bottle. It prompts me to lay the bottle that I’d purchased down for a while to gain some equilibrium. Nice look to it, a deep mahogany with ruby highlights and a creamy off-white head. The aroma is interesting - so interesting in fact, that a nameless person was tempted to pour some down his or her nose! To me, the anise took the forefront, trailed by a sweet roasted malt, some chocolate, alcohol, and fruity spices. Same with the flavor, solid but with a licorice taste taking over. Other than that, a nice spicing to the sweet roasted malt base. I will be trying this some months down the road to see if it’s more akilter.

<font size=-4>A contribution to a The LoSBD emergency meeting by <a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/ViewUser.asp?UserID=32057>MrsFrankenkity and <a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/ViewUser.asp?UserID=18655>frankenkitty.<font size=-1>

Fills the chalice with a deep chocolate brown color with ruby-red highlights. Produces a big, thick and dense tan head with superb retention and thick lacing. Rich, complex aromas of roasted malt, cocoa, dark fruit, caramel, banana, licorice and various spices. Mouthfeel was full, round and smooth with a soft carbonation. Intense flavors of roasted-chocolate malts are upfront; almost porter-like, follwed by notes of caramel candy, prune, raisin, anise, yeast rolls, and spices (clove, pepper, cinnamon). Finishes slightly on the sweet side but the alcohol rescues it from being too cloying. Really enjoyed this spicy, dark unique offering from Stone.

22 oz. bottle. Pours a deep brown with a smallish khaki head. A terrifically well-roasted malty aroma that features plenty of caramel along with some anise and cinnamon. Bananas and cloves become apparent as it warms. Medium body. Caramel, roasty malts and light coffee start things off. A dark and wheaty breadiness is also present. Finishes with a moderate amount of drying bitterness and the slightest hint of warming alcohol. Clove and cinnamon throughout. My brother’s winter homebrew is better than this.

Las Vegas, Nv. - Lee’s Discount Liquors, 22 oz bomber. Very dark ruby red to black pour with a frothy mocha colored head. Fresh, srong aroma of carbona cleanser, licorice and bubblegum. Flavor has some candied sugar notes, bubblegum, cloves. Improves as it warms and develops some caramelized smoky flavors. Reminds me somewhat of Ouzo. Mouthfeel is very clean and textured well. Goes down very smoothly.

Poured from a bottle, much darker than I expected. Aroma was a very nice banana and clove. The flavor was a bit bitter on the nose, followed by a strong clove taste and finished with a nice sweetness combining with the clove.

bottle, courtesy of Muenster. After pouring this one, we were having a conversation of the style on this. We had it narrowed down to dubbel or quad. I see now it’s labeled as a dubbel, well it’s pretty dark and rich, even for this style. The aroma has cloves and banana with a boquet of floral notes. The mouth brings out more chocolate and a lingering bready finish, which makes me think quad. But there are tamer notes of raisins and toast. The alcohol burns a little in throat and makes this quite warming. Overall, very deep and savory. This is a step up even from last year’s vertical epic. Hooray Stone!

Yeah, I know that I"m jumping the gun on this one. Really, really dark for a dubbel- not that that’s a bad thing. Like victory says, lots of cloves in it. A bit unbalanced for my taste- hopefully it’ll be better in a few years. Rating may change then. We’ll see.