Stone 06.06.06 Vertical Epic Ale

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

Bottle sampled with Stegosaurus. Pours amber with an off-white head. Aroma of fruit, spices, and slight roast. The flavor is smooth, sweet, and fruit. Great beer.

Thanks to Travis from Dunedin Brewing. Aroma is malt, maple, vanilla, and butter. Flavor is buttery maple with some bitter disguised well. I liked it.

This one poured dark, dark brown with a light mahogany hue around the edges. The head was big initially but fades quickly to a small ring and leaves minimal lacing. The aroma is very sweet with dark fruits, figs and grapes, brown sugar and hints of sweet chocolate. The Belgian yeast is present as well with a bit of nuts and caramel malts. The taste is also sweet, with caramel malts and chocolate. There is some candi sugar and dark fruits really showing out as well. Licorice and a hint of roasted coffee round things out. The mouthfeel is very smooth with minimal carbonation which goes down very nicely. There is nothing too distinctive about this one - it’s just an easy-drinking Belgian dark that has held up pretty well over the last 2+ years.

22oz bottle. Randomly scored from keg n bottle in I.V., sitting next to the 777 and hadn’t noticed it before. Deep dark brown like the depths of hell... ok thats the only satanic reference I’m going to make... maybe. Brown sugar, prunes, and molasses in the aroma. The flavor is pretty sweet, but not out of control. Almost reminds me of a doppelbock with some nuttiness to it. Just a little bitterness from the roast, and a little yeast in there too. An enjoyable dubbel, but I’m not getting the complexities that I love about westmalle or rochefort. Definite bonus points for the name; I had Iron Maiden playing in my head the entire time. I didn’t get to try it fresh, but a year and a half of age may have blended the flavors a little much.

Dark brown color with a smaller light tan head. Aromas of not ripe bananas and lightly roasted malt. Flavors of dark caramel, some cedar and spruce. Some hot hops flavors that should mellow over time. A little time will do this one well.

A bit musty, rich aroma. Brown color. Raisin note, nutty, richness, light toast with hazelnuts. Moderate palate. Not bad. I’m not sure if it will improve with aging; I’d drink now.

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.

Rich, dark brown with naearly no head at all. Strong, apicy aroma with brown sugar galore and plums and some cherries too. Strong alcohol presence. Molasses and brown sugar predominate in the flavor. Banana esters. A little too sticky. Very chewy mouthfeel.