Stone 10.10.10 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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Pours cloudy copper with a medium beige head, very fine clinging lacing. Fruity and malty aromas, biscuit, grass, grape, spice, and a hint of bubblegum. Medium body, smooth and creamy. Medium sweet, some citrus, light bitter finish. Malty notes linger.

Sadly, my bottle saved for two years was lacking a bit in the carbonation department. Nice grapey windy aroma, but Belgian yeast is there too. Very unique flavor with the wine/beer blend. I really like this one and wish it had more bubbles.

Last of the bottled Epics for me, except for the 2002, which I’m pretty sure tastes like hammered dogshit by now----15thJan2013 drink date. Clear light amber color with fleeting ivory sheen. Light pit fruit aromas with some pepper, tangerine, bread. medium body, average carbonation. Nice light pit fruit flavors with spicy yeast, tangerine, and bready, caramel maltage--very tasty.

Draught. Pours a mostly clear amber color with a smallish white head on it. Nose is fruity and quite sweet with an almost sugar-like quality to it. Taste is actually a bit sour, but definitely fruity. Feels a bit thick and heavy on the tongue (that’s what she said). Very interesting.

Local 44, Philadelphia tap ($5): Pours a brownish amber with a beige head. Aroma is aloe vera, white wine, flowers, raisins, berries, and maple syrup. Taste is winy and sweet, maybe too sweet actually. That being said, there is a good amount of complexity to this. Floral tastes and stuff abound.

Bomber. Drinking this 3 years in and it definitely holds up if not improves. Cloudy orange amber with a nice white head. Some chardonnay with a belgian yeast, some light malt, bit of candied sugar (that reminds of liege waffles), alcohol is well hidden, wheat, bit of lemon liquor but quite faint. Moderate+ body, refreshing and bubbly body, tickles the palate, more alcohol at this point (Zinfandel and chardonnay), some belgian yeast with a high alcohol wheat beer. Great long finish that keeps on going. Tasty.

This is one of the first beers I bought and decided to age while living in Colorado. Would have drank on 12.12.12 but I caught a nasty case of Noro, ha. Anyway, bomber pours an orangish amber with a small white head. Lots of grapes present in aroma but dominated by the Belgian Candi sugar. Now I’m usually not a fan of this style or Belgian spice in general but the blend of the grapes gives this a great approachable taste allowing the spice to be very present but not overbearing. I was afraid that I would like this one at all but found it enjoyable enough.

22 oz bottle, Andersons, purchased just last week for $7.99 (!). 2.5 years old. Pale orange-straw; half-fizzy-half-creamy white head dissipates into a medium ring; very light lacing. Aroma of a good abbey tripel, so I’m surprised to see this classified as a Belgian strong; floral, citrus, yeasty, a little spicy. Flavor is also typical of a Belgian dubbel or tripel, but with a slight white wine vibe, which I just subtly noticed before reading the description illustrating that several types of grapes were used in brewing this. I really enjoy that they went white grape in this instead of red grape; the red grape gives beer to much of a dark grape juice vibe that I don’t care for. Sharp yet warm sweetness, the up front flavors are unusually long-lasting which I love, and I wonder if this is a result of the aging process. Alcohol is just on the verge of fusel and astringent but stops just short so that it presents an intriguing, pleasant bite. I found myself thinking, "As good as this is, it would be amazing oaked," and, lo and behold, there is an oaked version that I’ll never get. Oh well. Medium body only because of the level of sugar in this; otherwise a little lighter; medium, clean stickiness. This deserves more love than its current overall rating of 3.51, at least in its 2-year-old form. Really nice.

My neighbor brought this over because we invited them over for supper, will I guess I win this round. Mildly hazy gold with a small good sized white cap. Not Bad aroma, mild white wine, orange, pepper, yeast, more and other stuff. Strong tasty brew, peppery, yeast, lemon, lightly tart. Has a good bite with a long, soft finish. Overall this has a good Belgium feel to it. Thanks to VBS for basically righting this review since I took piss poor notes when drinking this earlier this afternoon.

While I loved this beer, it didn’t taste like beer at all. Even the nose was dominated by the grapes. I felt like I was drinking wine. It was sweet, herbal and had a nice dry finish. The head was big and frothy. Definitely an awesome experience to try but was probably more wine than beer.