Stone 06.06.06 Vertical Epic Ale

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

Rating #1800 here....A dark brown apperance with a tan head. The aroma contains chocolate, raisins, bananas, licorice, and coffee. The flavor consists of chocolate, licorice, raisins, cloves, and coffee. An interesting twist on a dubbel certainly more on the stout side with a mix of hefe in there. The finish is a little bit boozy and sweet. The bitterness lingers. A very different and nice beer. One of my favorite Stone verticals!

Small brown head, good retention with a minimal lace thats spotty at best. A very dark Dubbel. If not for a deep red glow when held up to the light you,d think you were enjoying a nice stout. Juiciley fruity nose, smattering of plums and raisins, licorice and medium sweet malts. Body is med/full, creamy with a gentle carbonation, a joy on the tongue. Medium sweet malts, light roast and dark fruits, light coffee notes, tingly spices. As it warms notes of chocolate, bittersweet with caramelly notes to boot. Finish is lightly sweet, fruity malts and a definate bite. Props to tever for a pair of these!

Pours a deep dark amber bordering on brown. Nose is complex with the cloves and dark fruit belting out a delightful song. Very tasty with lots of flavors that are clearly defined. This is a beer that you hate it when the glass is empty.

Pours an opaque dark brown, black notes, molasses, some small frothy tan head that quickly fizzes away. Aroma is yeast (dark warm dough, wheat, cellar), malt (meal, toast), clove notes, fruit in the background (peach, apricot, plum), faint smokiness. Moderately acidity attempts to burn the tongue, scraping your taste buds away but leaving enough to sample the roasty and toasty dark malts, clove, wheat and fruits, smoke and banana notes way at the end. Dark bodied, fizzy, spicy and dry palate.

This was good, but I think it will get better with some age. Roasted malt, candi sugar, spices and fruit re all in the flavor. Had the Stone hop finish makes it a little odd after the sweet! But it’s a good beer, and I look forward to aging some.

Aroma is smokey and fruity. Flavor is extremely comforting- sweet (banana?)and spicy with sort of a roasted anise flavor. What I would imagine a Belgian Abbey Stout to taste like. Finish is nicely bitter and slightly funky, and they are right... no astringency at all. One of my favorite Stone brews so far.

Bottle from Super Saver. Dark brown pour with 1-finger khaki head. Aromas of roasty malts, nuts, brown sugar, black licorice, spicy banana, and yeasty funk notes. The flavor, to me, is rather weizenbockish, with notes on the palate of malt, figgy fruits, some molasses, licorice, brown sugar, banana, and cacao. As with all Stone beers, this one has a sizable palate heft and marvelous complexity.

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.