Stone 07.07.07 Vertical Epic Ale

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

Poured a clear orangeish amber with a fizzy white head. Aroma is slightly sweet with some notes of pear and apple, a bit of toffee and alcohol. Flavor is fairly balanced and agreeable, with some notes of apple and pear, carrot and celery, a bit of orange and tad bit of metallic alcohol. Finishes lightly spicy and dry. If I had not opened the bottle myself, I would have guessed this was a Unibroue standard offering, though lacking the complexity and refreshing character of even Unibroue’s strongest specialty brews. A decent attempt, but I would have liked something more definitively Stone.

22oz bomber. Pours a deep orange with highlights of amber and hints of gold. The head pours off-white and medium in size. Swirling the glass releases more foam - a tightly-beaded, flat layer that dissipates quickly as did the head from the initial pour. The nose is rich and strong: some alcohol, lots of doughy yeast, and lots of spice (nutmeg, coriander, anise, menthol). The flavor starts sweet and malty, but with a strong presence of yeast and spice, too (follows the aroma). The middle of the tongue detects a big dose of ginger along with some citrus. The bitter citrus peel, ginger, and hops conspire, successfully, to create an astringenct bitterness across the middle of the tongue. The finish has more doughy yeast, some warming alcohol, and subtly sweet malts. It also has more astringency, like eating bitter lawn clippings. The bitterness isn’t actually so bad - it is subtle and effectively balances the sweet malt. But, really, there is a little too much spice in this recipe that presents itself as an odd, floral, spicy, medicinal taste. The mouthfeel is quite nice: medium-to-full in body and lusciously carbonated. Overall, a good effort that would have been inexorably better with a little less spice (I think the ginger is the most likely to blame).

22oz. bomber. Clear orange/amber color with a medium sized white head. Spicy aroma of ginger, citrus, cardamom, yeast and honey. Flavor of crystalized ginger, cardamom, tangerines and yeast. Mildly sweet with a medium mouthfeel.

Light orange. Good head. Fruit aroma. Taste covers the tongue. Spicy, possibly oregano.

Smells like a saison. Very citrusy, with hints of alcohol. I really enjoy it. Beautiful orange gold with a frothy, short white head. Laces well, and head stays around. Very sweet in the first taste, with a sour aftertaste which is notiecable for a while. Some hops in the middle of the taste, you can really taste the ginger as well. Full motuhfeel without that much carbonation, pleasant. Much more alcohol in the taste as it warms with darker notes coming through.

bottle - Pours lightly hazy orange with a thin, disappearing head. It smells very much of yeast and citrus. The flavor is of sweet malts with some yeast and lots of citrus. All those fruit peels are definitely coming through. Medium bodied and easy drinking, it has a light hops finish and a little more of the citrus that runs all the way through it. This beer is really good though doesn’t live up to last year’s effort, in my opinion. The citrus needs to smooth out a bit. Now to see how it ages...

Bottle: Pours amber, very fine sediment floats about, moderate to large foamy white head, decent lacing.   Nose of spices, lemon zest, all spice, and it seems like from Epics of past, Kaffir lime leaf.   Maybe my brain is trained, or scared by that, but I seem to pick up some weird sort of tea leaf aspect.   Does have a floral and herbal hint to this one.   Interesting to say the least.   Somewhat floral on the tongue, slightly bready, pretty rich, or at least filling.   Has a fairly strong herbal tinge as it warms.   Fairly full bodied, moderate mouthfeel.   Seems rather strange in its spiciness.   Somewhat Belgian, somewhat American.   I keep thinking back to the Kaffir lime leaf on this one.   If I were to say it has a pastel sorta flavored floralness to it, would that make sense?   Overall very floral/herbal oriented, while remaining fairly bready.   Tiz a decent beer, and a bit heavier than I would have thought.   Yeah, this one was pretty damn spicy.

bottle. nice glowing amber pour. minimal head produced. spices come through. malty nose. medium body, lingering aftertaste. stong.