Stone 06.06.06 Vertical Epic Ale

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

Dark and ominous appearing in the glass, the aroma clears out anything else in your mind. You contemplate the possibiliites, because they are there but they’re young and restless. Mindful while you approach; the yeast has revelled for it’s time with this battlefield and then won by a massacre. The remnants race across your toungue to deliver spicy, estery overtones. Underneath, the malt begs attention, at first it seems the secret recipe for coca cola has been breached, but then the yeast residuals return to fog that notion and you are left again thinking of future payoffs - someday, when several seasons have passed, this one will fulfill it’s promise.

On tap at Winter Storm ’09. Pours a deep amber color with a beige head. Smells and tastes of a combination of cantaloupe and honeydew melon with notes of brown sugar and peat. Cotton dry mouthfeel, but well-balanced and original.

Pours darker than I expected with a darker head than I expected. However, the foam was plenty high, which I did expect, and it lasted about halfway through the glass. Aroma was subtle to me at first, but as it warmed, the yeastiness and a slight rauchbier-like quality became more apparent. Taste is definitely roasty, with dark raisins, and smokey malts,with some spices thrown in. Carbonation is fairly high and does the style justice, but it doesn’t seem to match roast flavors. As the beer warms it becomes noticably sweeter. Finish is defintely dryer than I’m used to with these belgian beers. Very good, and well balanced; I like it when beers taste a little different every sip.

Bottle. Pours brown with a medium head. Aromas of yeast, bread and spices, perhaps a bit like gingerbread. Flavors of cloves, anise, yeast, bread an hops. Fairly complex. I also found that it is better chilled than warmer, it gets too sweet. The alcohol is there but never overpowering. The beer has a full body which makes it almost hard to finish a bomber bottle.

Pours a deep brown with an off-white head. Aroma is a mix of alcohol, dark fruit, and spices. Taste is a great complex mix of malt, spice, hop, and dark fruit. A wonderful brew from Stone.

Not my fave stone beer. Poured a nice ruby color, but no great head. Hops mixed too strongly with sweet belgian flavors of fruity and gamey yeast.

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.

bo. flowers, coriander, fruitpeels. dubble brown with tan head-coating. balanced sweet coriander spicy malt. chewy palate. servicable plus, but my socks are firmly still on. Not excited about the ’vertical epic’ arketing angle one bit by this beer. Interesting concept, but this isn’t one of the most interesting stone beers. I probably will not bother aging this or getting another one.