Stone Brewing Vertical Epic Ale 12.12.12

Vertical Epic Ale 12.12.12

 

Stone Brewing in Escondido, California, United States 🇺🇸

  Belgian Style - Strong Ale Series Out of Production
Score
7.15
ABV: 9.4% IBU: 50 Ticks: 103
This year's Stone Vertical Epic Ale is the very last one. Yep, this is it. The final chapter. Or as they say on the last slide in some old films: "Fin." No worries though; this edition is particularly well-suited for prolonging the experience, as it's as cellarable as any in the series, or more. In this, the final edition, you can expect a perfectly balanced "womp" of spices: cinnamon, ginger, allspice, sweet orange peel, clove (only a little!) and rosehips, all in the context of a dark Belgian-style abbey-ish beer...but not as sweet. Dry even. Stone style. Thanks for coming on this epic Stone-style journey with us! You can rest assured there will be new adventures to come...
 

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8.6
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 10 | Overall - 8.5

22 Oz bottle pour shared. What a great way to end a work day. Pours black with a swirly tan head. Really nice holiday like spices aroma. Nutmeg and cinnamon, with no doubt. Flavor is consistent with the aroma. Very easy drinking spice flavor with a bit of raisin as well. So delicious. Loved it.

Tried from Bottle on 14 Dec 2014 at 23:44


8.6
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5

Deep, super dark brown coloured body with a very rich, luscious deep brown head, only about a centimetre tall, all with a faint violet and deep brown glow - very nice looking. Aroma of alcohol, spice, cinnamon, canella, nutmeg, cardamom, roasted malt, yeast and coffee - very nice also. Full-bodied; Super rich flavour of roasted malt, alcohol, caramel, earth, prunes, pine, spruce, chocolate, yeast and then a bunch of light spice notes hit the end - very nice indeed. Aftertaste shows a bunch of sugars with chocolate and raisins hitting hard and a good robust yeast and malt profile to finish out the beer - this is nice and well-rounded. Overall, I’m usually not a proponent to Stone and their million Imperial IPAs, but this is truly a great beer - rich, assertive, complex and rarely - not a hop-centric beer. Without a label, you’d think it’s another brewing company, but this is well worth finding if you can still get it - a great product! I sampled this 65 cL bottle purchased from Half Time in Poughkeepsie, New York on 26-December-2012 for US$8,99 sampled at home in Washington to celebrate running a marathon yesterday in Maryland on 30-November-2014.

Tried from Can on 01 Dec 2014 at 21:43


7.5
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7

Dark and spicy, lots of cinnamon, nutmeg, clove. Near black body with beige creamy head. Some chocolate in the aroma and taste, mildly dry finish. Overall very complex, lots of flavors combined.

Tried on 01 Nov 2014 at 19:36


7.4
Appearance - 10 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5

Bottle. Pours opaque back with a medium creamy dark brown head that dissipates slowly with nice lacing. Aroma is spiced, roasty, cocoa, nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice. Flavor is lightly sweet, light bitter, spiced but not over the top, Belgian yeast esters, roasty, cocoa. Medium-light body. Pretty solid.

Tried from Bottle on 25 Oct 2014 at 23:41


6.6
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5

How: Bottle.
Where: Systembolaget.
Appearance: Hazy brown colour with a beige head.
Aroma: Roasted malt, raisin, spices, some alcohol.
Body: Medium body and carbonation.
Flavour: Dried fruit, spices, malt, clove, ginger.

Tried from Bottle on 09 Oct 2014 at 09:16


6.5
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6

Draft on 12/12/12. Hazy brown color. Aroma of herbs and coffee grounds. Taste is a jumble of an off mix of herbs, plus some brown bread.

Tried from Draft on 21 Aug 2014 at 10:03


5
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 2 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 5

Bottle shared with Ferris and Fonefan. Opaque black color, average sized brown head. Horrible herbal and spicy aroma. It reminds me of (Dutch) speculaas. Taste isn’t so bad, though I will never order another one. Mainly herbs and spices again, "speculaas", some roast, sweetish a bit as well as some bitter. Medium to full body, medium carbonation.

Tried from Bottle on 19 Aug 2014 at 12:34


7.4
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5

Bottle - Clove, cinnamon, dark sugar and chocolate. Jet black with a nice brown head. Chocolate and dark sugars, clove and a tasty bitterness at the finish. Tastes stronger than it tastes, which is good.

Tried from Bottle on 11 Aug 2014 at 12:01


8.1
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5

Bottle from an International Trade; dark brown pour with a frothy tan head, fruity aroma, loads of Christmas spices in the taste cinnamon, nutmeg, some plain chocolate, creamy mouthfeel, very complex rewarding beer.

Tried from Bottle on 29 Jun 2014 at 01:22


5.9
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 5.5

22 oz bottle purchased at Julio’s back in the day. It looks like a stout. Dark brown / black with a thin layer of white head. Aroma is lots of spice, cinnamon, all spice and ginger with a light roasted malt tone.

Tried from Bottle on 10 May 2014 at 15:58