Stone 08.08.08 Vertical Epic Ale

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

Bottle: Bright and clear light copper color with a thin, creamy off-white head. Small sheets of lacing. Aroma is, and I think back to my exact words ’Holy shit, citrus hops!’ Sweetness and spices is like a Belgian bagged a wet ipa. Tastes more of a deep malty base with Belgian spices, cloves, floral hops, and again light citrus. Lingering bitters. A surprise over what I had anticipated.

Bottle. Clear, golden pour with very little head. Complex aroma of bitter hops, spice, fruity esters, banana and a touch of sweet candi sugar. Powerful flavor that starts fairly sweet with some fruit and spice that fades to bitter hop finish. Interesting beer with a lot going on in both aroma and flavor.

Bottle. Pours a crystal clear bright gold with a pale head. The aroma is extremely strange. My nasal passages actually feel warm as I inhale. Initially there is a spike of floral and spiced bouquets. Malts that seem to resemble burnt cardboard quickly envelops the flowers and spices. It’s strange. The malty aroma feels like it’s affecting the walls of my nostrils instead of affecting my palate. The experience is unique. The flavour is also quite interesting. Initially, spiced and floral notes are prominent with a melon-like fruit (much like a honeydew) and honey close behind. With the mouth closed, fruit and honey flavours rapidly increases. But as air enters the mouth, notes of yeast become instantly apparent initially before the dry spiced and floral flavours burst along with some light hoppy bitterness. Alcohol is a subtle flavour, but is very noticeable as it warms the chest on its way down. Towards the finish, fruit and honey flavours slightly diminish. Spices fade slightly to introduce some grain flavours. Hops and a semi-metalic bitterness increases a little as well, complementing the spices. The finish is also dry... very dry.

I’m not a huge fan of spices. But this creates some interesting layering effects between the spice/floral and the fruit/honey flavours that I find rather neat and intriguing... and not to mention the aroma...

Moderate malt aroma with hints of fruity grain. Clear golden color with a medium white head. Strong clean hop flavor that fades slightly in the finish to a light crisp malt flavor. Slightly dry palate.

Clear golden, light white head, gone immediately. Light, flowery herbal hoppy nose. Herbal and earthy, spicy, relatively mild. Light and playful.

thanks to moelikebeer for this one. Sweet spicy and a light hop aroma. Pale gold color with a head that was nice when it was there but it quickly went away. Nicely complex flavor, sweet up front, spice in the middle and a noticeable hop at the end. Nice dry finish.

Pours a crisp, clear gold with a short white head. Pale, bready, lightly citrus, Belgian aroma. The flavor is also very bready and light with some citrus flavors and a light lingering herbal flavor. Light carbonation but clean flavor. Easy to drink. Higher ABV is well hidden.

Pours light orange with a thin white head. Nice hop aroma with some apricot, funk, and yeast. Creamy body, initial impression is Belgian Trippel. Good yeast and spice flavors along with a moldy orange note. Solid beer.