Stone 06.06.06 Vertical Epic Ale

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

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!

On tap at Stone’s 2008 Winter Storm. Amber color. Big fluffy head. Sweetish. Malty. A hint of age. Nice. 3.7-3.8

Bottle courtesy of Travis from Dunedin Brewing. Pours a dark brown color with thin tan head. Aroma is malty and sweet with notes of molasses, caramel, maybe some toffee and ripe dark fruit. Flavor is sweet and malty with notes of maple syrup, some vanilla, honey. Generally medium body with a sweet and malty finish.

Bottle. This one may be to complex. Very bubblegummy. Strong aroma with malt character and yeast standing out in the smell. Very dark color with thin head. First taste was pretty good, not sure what to say. After it warmed it seemed to get worse with an apparant cough syrup taste in the last few sips. Terrible palate near the end. I think this ale was better served cold than at room temperature. I don’t know if 6 years of aging would make this any better.

Bottle shared by durhambeer. Thanks Bob! I remember having the fresh when it came out back in ’06, hard to believe its been almost 3 years since then. About the time I joined this site...anyway, this baby is past its prime as dubbels will get after 3 years in my experience. Oxidation is evident throughout the nose and flavor, some sweet, dark malts, raisins, rust, spices. Just not my cup of tea, may be great for others.

22oz bomber-A black body with a nice tight tan head and an aroma of malt, hops, belgian yeast, caramel, and toffee. Taste of this full bodied brew is of the same with some alcohol and roasted malt coming in towards the middle and lasting to the end. A great tasting brew.

From a 22 oz. brown bottle with a blurb and info across the back of the bottle, sampled at cellar temperature in a chalice. Made a good appearance, poured a deep mahogany with a small foamy head that settled into a thin lacing, good carbonation. Had a nose of plum and bubble gum, lightly herbal and roasted malts. A crisp, but a little rough medium bodied mouthfeel, good drinkability. A bit rough in the taste, clove, a sweet plum-like fruitiness, "anise," bare hints of chocolate, a herbal hoppiness that breaks up the taste and a dryish bubble gum and roasted malts finish, a little sweet as well. The alcohol does provide a nice warmth in the palate and, for me, only shows up in the taste at the end, in the aftertaste. Should improve with age, at least I hope it does since I purchased four bottles for aging.

Very nice amber/dark brown pour. light head, such a fruity flavor, with some roastedness, slightly sweet, some stickiness on the lips, but mellow, wow, wish I kept more of these! Alcohol unnoticeable. So easy drinking!