Stone 04.04.04 Vertical Epic Ale

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

Serve in Trappist glass, Tulip, Tumbler

send corrections   |   shelftag   |   edit barcodes   |   update pic

Smells like dirty socks rubbed in bananas. Tastes like dirty socks might taste with some added bananas. Not a very pleasant tasting beer. Never again!!!

pours beautifully; warm as a neon peach, the head is a briefly billowy bliss. my nose approached the glass, like a hungry ardvark closing in on a juicy mound of ants-- but then: "Gaaaa!" i cried as if someone had dumped icewater down my back. my lord, i can’t get around that aroma-- or "stink" as i came to refer to it. it’s inexplicable to me, i can’t pentrate the skank of that-- that-- odious kafir lime leaf. it’s like a malodorous forcefield, i can’t even get near the beer-- me and the glass kareem off each other like recoiling magnets. maybe i’m allergic to it, because it engenders symptoms of extreme malaise and the paranoid sense that an awful trick has been played on me. perhaps i was imprinted as a youth to rettain a protective revulsion to that smell-- maybe i was abused by a fat ugly person who used the cheapest lime aftershave in a putrid attempt to cover his body odor. i don’t know. i know i respect stone enough to have actually bought this product twice-- with the same results. after i’d plugged my nose with plumber’s grout, i could proceed with a tremulous tasting. it has soft carb, lime soaked cedar flavor, a bit of alcohol, strong doughy effect and a dramatic slug-fest between sweetness and bitterness. medium bodied. all other qualities and proportions check out reasonably. clearly i have a problem with kafir (i also loathe new belgium’s ’loft’). everyone says it’ll age well. that’s bad news to me-- stuff like this that doesn’t go away even with age should be buried deep in yucca mountain.

UPDATED: AUG 2, 2007 Bottled. Golden pour. Medium white head. Possibly the strangest nose I’ve ever encountered. It reminds me of something, but I cannot quite place it. Twizzlers maybe? Lime twizzlers if they made them. Weird. That doesn’t really explain it very well, but this stuff smells very strange. And honestly, not all that pleasant. Flavor begins with more of the lime twizzlers. Soapy, in the same way I found the 9th to be soapy. The flavor makes me cringe and shake in the way that a combo of orange juice and toothpaste would. Fairly dry, but it has a mildly sweet finish. Overall really odd, but it could have been a lot better. A lot. Man am I glad I didn’t buy more than one bottle. This is quite close to being a drain pour. Yep, it is a drain pour. Yuck.

Bottle. Pours a clear bright gold body with a thin fizzy white head that faded pretty quickly. The nose is just as oxidized as the first two, which is to say plenty. No noticeable spice notes as far as the lime goes, though there may be a touch of yeast. The flavor is pretty poor, very thin and oxidized, though it’s a bit more drinkable than the first two. A little bit of alcohol on the finish and a little sweetness. Still not something that you’d want to drink a bottle of by yourself. Mouthfeel is thin and watery with light fizzy carbonation. Another clunker, that makes three in a row. Nothing even remotely resembling the commercial description left here.

I write this review for all of the Stone Vertical Epics from 333 -999 but the numerical ratings of each are different. I pen this review reflecting on my tremendous respect for Horny Devil James – the supplier of these brews, Justin Lithy – the ratebeerian who supplied the locale, Ben london101 – for his VE comments and Beerman6686 Dan - for the interesting insights. Prior to this RB Pittsburgh December 2012 Post Apocalyptic Beer Tasting, I could have cared less for some happy BS vertical beers. However, James and Justin, by providing carefully guided beer experiences, which adjusted the stereo typical stigma that I held about such beers, and there numerical family. After I saw James immediately pour a bottle of 333 down the drain, after we all had a sample was not only breathtaking, but it I had to pinch myself to make sure it wasn’t a dream. I was cautiously thinking to myself, without speaking out loud, about my cheapness, that I would have drank that whole bottle, if it was one of my singular tasking sessions. Perhaps I would have got sick, who knows. Well, for the ratings, they all were rather old, musty and tasted about the same, except the 777. The triple 3 was a dark, flat, old, rude, coors cardboard and bitter; fer sure. The 444 had a somewhat volatile spicy smell and looked like pale lager. Of course, it come across rather old too. The 555 was a dark beer. It had some decent co2 for a change. Bitter initially, then mellowed. However, I found more it acceptable than most IPA. The devil #666 was just that. Dark pour with a decent head. Smell is a little tart, pretty good olfactory. Some co2 on the palate. Not as bad as the first 3 VEs. 777 was the best of the bunch, again a darker ale. Smell is acceptable. Really strong taste but did not have many of those negative old beer thing attributes. Lots of CO2 which makes this more fun – IMHO the best of the bunch fer sure. I thought it was because it was the newest, but modified my impression after having the 888 & 999. With the 888 pour is pale yellah. It must be a strong ale & the medicinal bitterness is quite high. Finish is back of throat bitter bite that goes on for quite a while. And lastly the 999. Seems much older in personality that the 444-888. Actually, I get the impressions of an old barley wine on the nose. Strong & rude. A little over the top fer sure. Does not hide alky what so ever. Not the best VE I’ve ever head, heheh. There – you have it; VE ratings from a VE newbee.