Vertical Epic Ale 06.06.06
Stone Brewing in Escondido, California, United States 🇺🇸
Belgian Style - Quadrupel / Dark Strong Series Out of Production|
Score
7.33
|
|
In this year’s edition, you’ll notice a deep, rich aroma of toasty malts, anise, Belgian yeast spiciness, and a hint of cedar. The toasty, dark and roasty malt flavors combine with a soft palate - courtesy of specialty dark wheat and barley malts. The body is fairly light for a beer with such a high gravity. There is a pleasant, lingering bitterness, so you know it’s part of the Stone family. This ale was brewed with a specialty Belgian yeast that we’re really liking here at Stone...it’s the same one we used for brewing the Stone 03.03.03 Vertical Epic Ale. And as with the Stone 05.05.05 Vertical Epic Ale, all the spicy, deep, and wonderfully funky aromas and flavor characteristics in this beer come as a result of nothing more than malt, hops, water and yeast!
Sign up to add a tick or review
6.8/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 6
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7
A red-brown beer with a slight haze under a brown head. The aroma is sweet malty with primary notes of caramel. The flavor is sweet malty again with primary notes of caramel, but also a light roasted malt note. In the beginning it seem thin, but then the 8.7% ABV creeps up on You. It leaves a note of soy sauce on the lips. I don’t find it complex enough, but still a nice beer.
Tried
on 04 Oct 2006
at 14:15
6.5/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 6
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 7
Dark brown with red highlights; dense but small yellow brown head. Malty and greenery/vegetable with some earthy nose. All very restrained, certainly for Stone, if I may say so. Warming up, orange zeste. Licorice in the taste, tons of the stuff. Roasted malts, of course, and quite some alcohol, both in MF as in taste. Retronasal some more wry, woody, near piney notes, whilst warming up - mint? It’s thin. It shows some possibillities for aging, but not much, I fear. When 12-12-12 appears, this is going to be dark dishwater. Disappointing, certainly from this brewery.
Tried
on 07 Sep 2006
at 01:57
7.6/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
Bottle Pours a very dark brown, with a nice modest but lasting light tan head. Spotty sheets of lacing. Aroma is typical belgian yeaty spicy notes, but fairly sweet and quite inviting. Flavors were similar, but plenty of residual sugars and body to lend a sweet wet, heavier feel to it. Finishes fairly dry, but with plenty of Belgian flavor. This one brings me back to the style that I was failry luke warm about. Thanks Buck Dich for sharing.
Tried
from Bottle
on 30 Aug 2006
at 00:02
8/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
Lovely dark brown pour with a one finger tan head that is foamy with some larger bubbles scattered about. Aromas are heavy of roasted malt with some dark fruit peeking through. Flavor centers on dark malt, anise and clove spice, a peat-like character that may be attributable to the hops and alcoholic flavors that come through just a bit. Alcohol blends nicely and does not overpower. It definitely warms a bit as it goes down, but is rather thinner bodied that I would expect with this much going on. Nice. I’ve got one more that is going to wait six more years for its moment of glory.
Tried
on 21 Aug 2006
at 22:54
7.8/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
Bottle courtesy of Daalamar: Poured a deep burgundy color ale with a small foamy head with average retention. Aroma of delicious cookie dough with some nice sweet malt. Taste is also dominated by the sweet cookie malt which are just plain delicious. Body is a bit too watery for my own taste and alcohol is well hidden. Probably one of the best in the vertical epic series and a damn fine abbey dubbel in any case.
Tried
from Bottle
on 14 Aug 2006
at 13:06
7.1/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 6
Overall 7.5
Bottle. Dark brown beer with a tan head. Roasty, yeasty (mostly spice) aroma. Dark malt and roast flavor with banana, caramel, coffee, spice, yeast and some background hops. A lot of flavors, but nice balance. Fuller bodied - a bit chewy. Will age nicely.
Tried
from Bottle
on 29 Jul 2006
at 15:52
7.2/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 7
Dark brown body with light brown head. Plummy aroma with milk chocolate, raisins and lots of sugars. Sweet flavour shows raisins, dates and plums. Full-bodied, very sweet finish with lots of brown sugar character. Definitely built for the cellar, this isn’t bad now but it’s definitely too sweet for my tastes.
Tried
on 23 Jul 2006
at 14:18
7.9/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
Dark brown ale with a thin off white head. A bit sweeter in aroma than 05. In mouth, more malty with definite chocolate notes, less licorice and less alcohol in mouth, still a very smooth ale. Enjoyed on tap at BCTC 2006.
Tried
from Draft
on 18 Jul 2006
at 21:00
7.4/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 6
Overall 7.5
Dark plum color, with a quickly diminishing, tan head - aroma of clove, dark fruit (fig, plum), candi sugar, caramel, toffee - quite full-flavored - begins with a touch of coffee-like bitterness, followed by sweet toffee and dark fruit flavors, a touch of smokey/peaty, almost scotch ale-like flavors, followed still by some nutmeg and clove - a little thin on the back end - otherwise a solid brew - reminds me a little of what North Coast seemed to be trying to do with Brother Thelonius, but whereas North Coast failed, Stone most certainly did not.
Tried
from Can
on 09 Jul 2006
at 20:06