Stone 07.07.07 Vertical Epic Ale

Formerly brewed at Stone Brewing Co.
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Escondido, California USA

I feel kinda stupid cracking this open without reading the "instructions." I had no idea this was meant to be aged so long. Is this why its score goes down every year? Anyway, was really surprised to notice how Belgian this tastes...the sugars and yeasts are like a heady yet gentle Tripel, but the nose contains hops, juicy pink grapefruit and candied lemon peel. A little syrupy and undercarbonated at the moment. Quite unusual and nicely done. I love the existence of hybrid beers, even if they haven’t quite learned to make them gel just yet, because it opens the door open for greatness in the future.

Bottled. An amber beer with a thin beige head. The aroma is sweet amlty with notes of peaches, citrus, and spicy notes of especially cardemomme. The flavor is sweet matly with spicy notes of cardemomme, lemon peal, and cinnamon.

Bottle. Pours a cloudy deep orange with a small ring of white head. Aroma of vegetable stew (I think that’s the ginger), pepper, and light citrus. Flavor of Belgian yeast and just tons of ginger, which really dominates the beer. Unfortunately none of the fruity notes really come out in this beer. I don’t know if it’s the age or not, but something went wrong here. It’s not bad certainly, but a little too 1 dimensional.

Bottle. Aroma a nice blend of the spices, notably the cardamom and ginger with rich, semi-sweet malts that seemed to have aged quite well over the past year. Flavor keeps that ginger and cardamom which, unlike recent raters, I’m rather enjoying! I had this stuff fresh and it really didn’t impress me at all, but right now the malts are nice and rich for me without ending up too sweet or too heavy. Nice mix of the malt and the spices, with some citrus sneaking in at the end from one or the other. I’m gonna disagree with most folks and say this stuff is pretty tasty right now.

Bottle. Pours a clear, golden body under a small white head. Quite lovely sweet, spiced aroma with ginger and cardamom. Fruity too, with citrus pee notes. Sweet, spiced flavor, with the same spices found in the aroma. Nice fruity and citrusy flavor too, with a decent hoppy bitterness and maybe too much alcohol, at least for a 8.4% ABV beer. Herbal towards the finish. Medium mouthfeel with a little warming feeling. For my likings, the alcohol is a bit too evident, and there’s also too much emphasis on the ginger, making it demanding to drink more than a small glass. Nice though. Rating: 7-4-7-3-14-3.5. (080811)

It pours a clear, golden body with a small, white head. Spiced, sweet nose with a touch of honey. Sweet, caramel flavor with cardamom and elderberry. Full-bodied. A quite nice one, but it still feels a bit ordinary. (081229)

22oz bomber. Tastes like Schneider Weiss on steroids, looks like Schneider Weiss without the explosive amount of head. Perhaps a bit more complex and less banana-esque than the German beer, but it is just about as enjoyable (which isn’t a great thing). Probably my least favorite Stone beer; I’m hoping the ’08 edition in my fridge tastes better.

650ml bottle. Clear, dark golden body with a thin off-white head. Aroma is incredible fruity, almost a bit overwhelming. Peaches and ginger mostly with a hint of bubblegum and fruit caramel. Flavor is malt, peaches, spicy and lots of ginger. A bit sweet and to much ginger for my taste, almost balanced with a fine bitter finish. A Saison for me is a smooth and gentle beer; this is a brutal flavor attack. Not undrinkable and not bad, just a bit to much of everything.

22 oz bottle tasted sometime around the end of July 2007. I rememberjust not being too WOWed by this one. No where in there did I find saisonish type flavors hitting my tongue. Now that I’ve recently had the 888...it almost seems like the 777 was practice for this years. Have not had aged yet.