Stone 06.06.06 Vertical Epic Ale

Formerly brewed at Stone Brewing Co.
Style: Abbey Dubbel
Escondido, California USA

Pours a dark dark brown appearance; light tan head that quickly fades. Pleasant aroma, showing candy sugar, bready / yeasty qualities, and spice. Huge presence in the mouth: plenty of yeast and spice, a solid malt backbone (roasted malts and maple syrup), some marshmallow / vanilla. Finish shows bread, spice and some floral bitterness. This should settle down nicely with a bit of age...

Bottle at the July Houston tasting, courtesy of TexasJeep. Thanks! Pours a decent black with a thin body and a slight head of cream brown. Aroma is chalky chocolate, more similar to a porter than a dubbel. Hints of spice and coffee in there as well. Flavor is a hybrid of coffee, chocoate, smoked malt, and a touch of floral hops in the finish. Nice mouthfeel; leaves a tickly film on the tongue. Pretty good for a mislabeled beer.

22 oz bottle dark, alcohol, caramel, chocolate, smells like a Belgian. Needs to age.

Bottle: Black coffee in color, moderate frothy beige head, a few whisps of lacing.   Nose of molasses, brown sugar, slight anise, a touch of charred wood, and even some candle wax like aspect.   Very pale dark pitted fruit, moreso noticeable on the tongue.   Fairly sweet, yet not cloying, nearly full bodied, moderate mouthfeel.   A bit more dark pitted fruit on the exit, but otherwise moreso brown sugar, molasses, and some nutty aspects.   Not your typical Dubbel.   Warming, yet not hot.   Decent offering, just wished it had a bit more dark pitted fruit and a bit less sweetness.   Flatter than most Belgian examples too, but glad it didn’t blow up when I opened the bottle.   I praise them for trying different stuff, but they still have more work to do on these Belgian styles.

Pours with a dark brown body topped by a medium thick to thick head with a good amount of lacing. It’s slightly sweet and malty with slight banana notes, a little roastiness and some dark fruit, as well as, some underlying spicy notes (Anise). Medium to full bodied, slightly tingly on the tongue and a touch dry.

Bottle courtesy of Daalamar: Poured a deep burgundy color ale with a small foamy head with average retention. Aroma of delicious cookie dough with some nice sweet malt. Taste is also dominated by the sweet cookie malt which are just plain delicious. Body is a bit too watery for my own taste and alcohol is well hidden. Probably one of the best in the vertical epic series and a damn fine abbey dubbel in any case.

Poured a deep brown color with a nice thin tan head that dissipated quickly. Strong wheaty, roasted malt aroma, much like a weizenbock, with a bit of light caramel and chocolate in there. The flavor was roasted light chocolate malts, but the roastedness was a firm ash/smokey flavor, somewhat strange for the style, much more typical of some stateside weizenbocks I’ve had. Other flavors that came on with temperature included strong spicing, particularly cloves, light fruity esters (touch of banana), and a bitter balance (yeast?) in the finish. The mouthfeel was dry.

On tap at Stone. Dark brown with creamy tan head. Roasty aroma of spices and yeast. Slight over-ripe fruit taste, nutty, with a mild spiciness to the finish.