Stone 08.08.08 Vertical Epic Ale

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

Hazy and yellow and soapy. Aroma is fruity but with butterscotch, bananas and yeast. Palate also has some bananas and some toffee, has nice tiny carbonation, very unassuming yet complex palate, light and delicate. Unusual and good.

Interesting one, borders on a IIPA with the thick malty presence. Hoppy, but has belgian candy notes to it. There’s definetely two sides to this beer. Sticky, hoppy, only slightly belgian to me though.

Bottle. Body-very pretty dark honey orange with a lasting quarter inch foamy white head. Nose-coriander, orange, Kaffir lime leaf, light soap, some unsticky PNW hops. Taste-wet hops, light non-acidic lime, watered down orange juice, lots of soft “foamy” esters, some pear, some grapefruit juice, lively CO2. A perfect mix of citrus, yeasty esters, CO2, and hops.

22 oz. bottle. A slightly hazy gold pour with lots of little floaties and a thin light-tan head. Smells of the classiest floral arrangement in the town’s worst funeral home! That, and some bananas and grapefruits. Thin to medium-bodied with a bit of a crisp finish. Starts off spicy and pretty grainy with some sweet caramel, a little vanilla, and a hint of corn. Transitions nicely to some tangy oranges and some bananas. Spiciness/pepper throughout. Some alcohol warmth at the end. Bitterness there too. Alright.

On tap at Winter Storm ’09. Pours a dark brown color with an off-white head. Smells of hops and smoke. Very reminiscent of a dark IPA with additional notes of caramel and black pepper. Earthy and interesting, but a bit high in water content.

Pours sparkling goldenrod color with a white, average, fizzy, fluffy head which does stick around for quite some time but leaves minimal lace. Nose is fair with lots of estery yeast with banana, clove, and some pepper and only undertones of citrus (pear) and faint bubble gum. Flavor is not what I was expecting; starts with some estery yeast, light candi sugar, and pear but quickly dries out and turns bitter with resins and pepper leaving no sweet Belgian notes. The bitterness is completely overshadows the Belgian notes and leaves a sharp notes lingering. Palate is medium, spicy, soft to lively, and drying. Finishes bone dry and moderately bitter with pepper. Not what I thought I would get from Stone, American hops and Belgian notes competed to much. This overly hopped Belgian golden is hard to make work and this one was not one of the better examples. Stone should stick to American beers.

This beer pours a clear orange with a slight hint of amber. There is a thick white head that fades rather quick bit leaves some streaks along the sides of the glass. The nose is rather interesting, it is funky with a funky yeast smell and some floral notes but they are not as intense as the funk. The taste is very strong with a nice bite to the palate, but it fades as quick as you drink it. there is some lemon grass with other light spices nothing strong, and on the finish it has some toffee and caramel malt. Overall it is a great brew with balance of carbonation and flavor.

The smell hit my nose before I could raise the glass to take a look, so I’ll give you that first: smells very sweet and creamy, with clove, vanilla, banana, orange and yeast. It poured VERY orange in color, with a small, creamy foam head, about 1 finger, into a trappist glass. The flavor is very complex and bitter, with clove, burnt vanilla, pepper, and resiny citrus hops. Fantastic taste! Palate is dry and long-lastingly bitter. All around an absolutely stunning masterpiece. If I had a cellar, I’d put a case of this in for a few years.