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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Bottle:   Pale golden, slight haze, moderate spritzy white head, spotty lacing.   Soft melon rind and tropical fruit on the nose.   Very slight touch of candied citrus peel and/or piney hops.   Heavy alcohol yeastiness on the tongue.   A bit biting and over the top.   Raw alcoholic citrus rind follows.   I get a quasi Belgianesque and IPA sort of mix, and I must say that the hop aspect is not as bright as other examples, which is nice.   However, the alcoholic warmth and fire seem to offset the usual over abundance of hops.   Moderate body and mouthfeel.   Finishes with a bit of alcoholic warmth.   The Belgian aspect of this beer is just not strong enough.   While not overly hopped, its too fiery and alcoholic.   Decent beer, just wished that either 1) it was more Belgian like or 2) it was not as alcoholic.   The style of combining an IPA with a Belgian still puzzles me to this day.   Picking a freaking side already, its tough to do this right.   Stone makes a great IPA, an okay Belgian, but mix the two and you get schmutz.

pale golden pour with minimal white head. aroma of sweet hops, honey, and florals. flavor of pepper and grass at the start. finishes very bizarre and spicy, with a slight pickely and putrid finish

everyone else’s pour may have been hazy but mine was clear & filtered as fuck with a spicy yeast nose showing notes of plump citrus. This was the continued theme in the flavors with the yeast taking bubblegum characteristics and the citrusy hops clash with this. The yeast, like most of the recent VE releases is too damn spicy and peppery and the peppery nature overshadows the citrusy hops. The ending is nastily peppery leaving unwanted flavors in my mouth.

Slightly hazy straw body, thin off-white head. Herbal nose with citrus rind. Bitter, grapefruity, rindy body with a peculiar bitterness, peppery and oily, with residual sugars. The upfront bitterness subdues the rest of the palate with unrestrained tannins. The harsh, hollow bitterness overwhelms any other elements in this beer. A big whiff.

22oz bottle. Slightly hazy golden orange color with a small white head. Appley malt and bubblegum ester meet a floral and citric hop character in the aroma. Candied citrus hop flavors dominate up front. Sugarly apple juice malt character peer through. Tinges of phenolic spice mark transition to the finish. Vestiges of hops combine with bubblegum and dusty yeast characters in the finish. Mouthfeel is medium, slightly drying and hot.

Bottle. Aroma very much the hybrid they claim it to be with yellow and tart fruits and melon from the Belgian side with citrus and tropical notes from the hoppy American side. A slight metallic note creeps in, but hardly a bother. Flavor turned very odd for me though with astringent bitterness, metallic fruits, bittersweet fruits. Something just seemed to go a little awry in the mouth. Overhopped for the style perhaps?

22 oz. brown bomber. Poured out a golden straw color, with a sticky tan colored head. Aromas are of cloves right off the bat. No banana or pepper in this bottle. Flavors are of cloves, sweet malts, lime leaves. Medium mouthfeel, decent body. Sub-par effort from Stone this time.

Yellow golden color with a quickly diminishing, heavily dense foam. Aroma is sparse, but shows some notes of banana and clove along with minor hop aromatics. Flavor is heavily sweet, boozy and is dominated by yeast (pepper, bubble gum, spice) and hops (floor cleaner, lemon, pine.) Mouth feel is very heavy, firm and has lots of weight, unlike most Belgian styles. Had really high hopes for this one but it failed me. Overly boozy, forced, poorly balanced and it just seems very unauthentic. I was hoping for something comparable to Houblon Choffe, unfortunately, it’s not even close.

hazy yellow gold, medium quickly reducing head, lacy. aroma of sweet malt, belgian yeast, spice. flacor is christmas spicy, like gingerbread, pine and grapefruit notes. medium body, dry finish. not bad, but then again, not good. sampled with cornfield, whiling away the time at his place.

A bit sweet for my taste and I hate to pan anything by Stone Brewery but this missed the mark for me. Too sweet for my palate.