Stone 08.08.08 Vertical Epic Ale

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

Serve in Trappist glass, Tulip, Tumbler

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22 ounce bomber purchased from the Covell Nugget in Davis, CA. Aroma is delightfully hoppy with some herbal, hemp, and orange characteristics. This is followed by some straight forward banana notes from the yeast. There is a bit of sweetness in there, which makes this a very enjoyable beer to smell. I honestly don’t think the aroma will improve with age. I expect the opposite, as a matter of fact. Transparent honey-colored body with a wispy, off-white head that is pretty small. Start is pretty carbonated, which becomes a little herbal with hop flavors. In the middle, there are some big, sweet, yeast/ester flavors which dominate. Some more bitter piney hop flavors come in later, which are followed by an unfortunate, dry, ethanolic finish. This had great potential given the aroma, but this just seems like a cluttered mess. I have a feeling that age will confuse things even more. I enjoyed this more the first couple times I had it when I was drunk.

(22oz bottle) Small off-white head atop clear apple juice body. Aroma is Belgian yeast spiciness. Taste is medium sweet, Belgian yeast, fruity/melon, light pepper. Medium body, light stickiness.

Small white head, fair retention, spotty, stringy, thin lace. Clear gold color. Nose is lightly fruity, yeasty, lightly floral and grassy. Body is lightly medium, effervescent and a tad astringent. Flavors of grass, citrus, light metallic notes, mango, dry malts, spicey with faint bubblegum notes. All in all; Least enjoyed of the VE series. Overly spicey and grassy. Not into the AmBelgique IIPA style thats seems to be running rampant in this here country. Sorry Stone but i still do love yous guys!

Bottle and served in my NB worthy glass: Clean deep golden hue with a frothy fading head and spotty lace. The aroma has notes of resiny and herbal hop, pepper and clove, buttery bread, earthy Belgian yeast and some candi sugar. The taste is spicy and yeasty with some fruity notes and lots of pale malts in the background. At this moment this beer lacks depth of palate... but then this hop forward beer will likely not take much more that a year of aging either. IMO, this will be like many other VE and will become heavy on the oxidization in due time.

(Dearest Stone Brewers, stick to massive Quad/Abts or English Old Ales/ Barleywines for the VE lineup, thanks)

This is not my favorite in the series, not at all. Pours without much head and it disappears in a hurry. It’s kinda spicy, it’s pretty yeasty, but there’s something about the mouth feel I don’t care for, seems a little flat. Especially once it sits in the glass a little bit. It’s not bad by any means. I’m pretty sure that I won’t buy it again, though. And I can’t see it lasting four years.

Bottle. Pours clear and sparkling dark yellow with a small, fizzy, white head, mostly diminishing with spare lacing. Aroma is heavy malt -grain, hay, straw, meal-, average hops -flowers, perfume, grass-, heavy yeast -sweat, horse blanket, barnyard- with notes of clove, apple, peach, and apricot. Medium bodied, oily texture, average carbonation, and a metallic finish. Average duration, light sweetness, acidity, and bitterness.

Pours a clear golden body with a very thin white head. Spicy with bananas, cereal, bubblegum, ending dry.

Bottle from Bleeng. Thanks! Pours an average cheddar with a grapefruit aroma. Nice sour grapefruit flavor with a slight Grape Nut (c) background. Average mouthfeel. Nice beer, but it doesn’t stand out as above average or better.

This clear golden ale poured with a modest off-white head that didn’t last long. The flavor is very complex, including lots of banana ester and spices, with a very bitter finish. I didn’t find the finish to be pleasant, as stated in the commercial description, but rather quite harsh.

Clear light amber with a fleeting head. Nice aroma is citrusy tropical fruit with clove. Medium body. Yeasty, estery flavors of bananas clove, with pale malt that’s mixed with bitter hops that doesn’t really meld very well at all. Maybe this one will develop with some time in the bottle?