Stone 06.06.06 Vertical Epic Ale

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

Bottle... Clear, crimson ale with a mid-sized, creamy, lightly tanned head. Good retention. The complex aroma is a swirl of chocolaty, vinous notes with a touch of burnt rubber, port, soy sauce, anise, clove and smoke. The flavor is chocolaty and toasted with dark fruits, molasses and alcohol. Decently-balanced by the hops and booziness. Full-bodied and creamy with lively carbonation. Finishes toasted and medium bitter. Pretty hot. Should age well, but I enjoyed it straight out of the Brickskeller’s cooler.

Bottle. Deep brown colour. Hoppy aroma, with some alcohol noticed. The aromas correspond to the palate, very hoppy, with alcohol showing. Doesn’t taste dark at all, even though it is a deep-ish brown colour. I don’t know how these gae and whether age will change it a lot, but it does feel a little raw.

Dark brown with red highlights; dense but small yellow brown head. Malty and greenery/vegetable with some earthy nose. All very restrained, certainly for Stone, if I may say so. Warming up, orange zeste. Licorice in the taste, tons of the stuff. Roasted malts, of course, and quite some alcohol, both in MF as in taste. Retronasal some more wry, woody, near piney notes, whilst warming up - mint? It’s thin. It shows some possibillities for aging, but not much, I fear. When 12-12-12 appears, this is going to be dark dishwater. Disappointing, certainly from this brewery.

Deep reddish colour with a small light brown head. Malty, fruity sweet aroma with a light yeasty note. Malty, light tart fruity flavor with some yeasty notes. Light dry and sweet finish.

Any first impressions?
-A veil of foam covers the obscure, purplish brown.
-Roasted malts and their cocoa-like companions walk along earthy, near vegetal hoppiness.
-The spicy fruitiness of cloves rests atop an intelligent union of roasted maltiness and hop bitterness.
-The soft effervescence and generous maltiness are beneficial to the mouthfeel.

What if you dig deeper?
-The spicy yeast makes some room in the nose after a few tries.
-Chestnuts are found within, as if an English brown ale is trying to establish itself amidst the flavor spectrum.
-Alcohol is well concealed, to the tastebud’s enjoyment.
-Not as spectacular as many Stone brews, but a very good, quite drinkable strong ale.

Bottle; uh...060606.

Pours brown with a lazy tannish head. Smells grassy with some sugary elements. Tastes of molasses, and some fruit, but otherwise one dimensional. Alcohol is well hidden. Somewhat disappointing compared to their other brews.

Update 8-15-06

On opening a second bottle of this one, I find it to be very green (and as such a potential aging candidate). The nose was bananas and bubblegum with some buttery elements suggesting a potential infection. Tastewise, this one was equally unbalanced and one-dimensional. While far from peaking, I’m not sure what this one’s going to gain through aging.

Bottled. Dark reddish brown coloured. Light brown head. Sweetness, fruits, caramel, liqourice and ligth spice. Flavour has alcohol, fruits, spices and light caramel. Light bodied and quite watery. Sweet alcoholdense end.

Very dark brown with a thick creamy tan head. Aroma is of dark toasted wheat, sweet spicy yeast, some light licorice, toasty and with lots of deep dark malts. Some cherry but not a whole lot of plumminess that I normally go for. The flavour is very toasty and chewy. A bit of roastiness on the back of the dark malts and dark spices. Dry, fairly bitter finish. As it warms more of the yeasty spice comes forward bringing a bit more balance than was present initially.