Stone 06.06.06 Vertical Epic Ale

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

Mist beers either call themselves hopfiends or malt friends. This beer will bring an end to the malt/hop civil war. One word... PERFECT!

Re-rated after a little over a year in the cellar....i.e....closet. Pours caramel/coffee brown with a nice tan head. Fruit has calmed down in the aroma, revealing a much stronger roasted malt character, but there is still some cherry and cassis present. This beer still has an amazing balance of the aroma in it’s flavor. Fruitiness that I originally noticed in the flavor has also been slightly muted. Roasted chocolate and caramel malts and a much stronger alcohol presence is the forefront, with a hint of anise coming through the finish. A bit of hops spiciness and warming alcohol in the back of my throat on the medium chewy palate.

Pours an opaque blackish brown with a decent head that dissipates quickly. Complex aroma with chocolate and malt. Taste is exquisite, well balanced, almost stout like with a smooth malt and chocolate toffee flavor and fruity notes. Mouthfeel is rich and makes for a very easy drinking brew.

(rerate from 12-25-07) This beer was damn impressive. I expected it to be with over a year of ageing. Ive had the 05’ and i dont really remember it being this good. Murky, and dark black in color, with a white laced head. Aroma is roast (but not in a coffee sense), chocolate, and grapefruit, vineous. Flavor is very much the same but i would describe it as more of a chocolate with a raspberry drizzle. Malty mouthfeel. A little bit of a hop bite, and a warm feeling afterwards. Damn good beer. but it definitely speaks more of a wine. Another winner for the boys at Stone.

Great aroma of dark malts, a little roasty, with some really nice deep earthy fruity aromas with a touch of yeast. The flavor is full bodied, and rich. Lots more of the earthy dark fruits, with a big dose of raisins, and plums. A superb example of the style, this has aged very very well.

Wow! It looked like a porter at first, and then when I held it up to light it looked like a really dark amber. It has a really sweet hoppy aroma and tasted like gold! This is without a doubt the best beer I have drank in a long long time.

Very good beer. Taste of sweetness with a hint of saltlyness. One of the best beer I have tasted.

I couldn’t stand it anymore and finally cracked this baby open as I enjoy my first night of football sprawled on my couch. Poured a deep stained mahogoney red-black with barely a whisper of carbonation or head. The aroma is strangely waxy, and a bit date-like ... I don’t know how else to describe it ... This drinks a lot mellower than I’d expected it to, and with much different of a flavor profile than I’d expecte, too. This has a rich dark fruity character, mostly raisin, hint of licorice, plum, blackberry, pinot noir. For all those rich flavors, this goes down far too easily, a nice sipper on this nice cool evening as I watch the Patriots smoke the Chargers.(#3097, 9/16/2007)