Vertical Epic Ale 09.09.09
Stone Brewing in Escondido, California, United States 🇺🇸
Belgian Style - Quadrupel / Dark Strong Series Out of Production|
Score
7.36
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This is quite a complex and layered beer. Bold and smooth chocolate malt flavors combine with a Belgian yeast lending tropical fruit and banana flavors and hints of spiciness, all complemented by citrus notes from an addition of tangerine peel. Rich vanilla beans add a nice counter to the chocolate malt, actually enhancing the chocolatiness. The finish is smooth, with additional traces of vanilla and toasted characters from French oak. The goal for this edition of the Stone Vertical Epic Ale series is to be reminiscent of artisanal chocolates accentuated with orange.
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8.2/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 10
Overall 8
Pours a dark brown bordering on black with a creamy tan head that slowly dissipates to form a cap on top. Smells of chocolate right off the bat. Licorice, oranges and creme soda come to mind as well. Taste is creamy chocolaty with a slight phenolic and spicy earthy yeast. Slight astringency mixed with some citrusy hop bitterness in the finish. Creamy mouthfeel with a dry finish. Lightly carbonated with a medium body. Stone calls this a belgian porter, I think they nailed it. Its a nice take on a style that really doesn’t exist. I liked it.
Tried
on 27 May 2011
at 18:17
7.8/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 9
Texture 6
Overall 8
shared by Ungstrup. clear dark brown, smooth light brown head. mild dark malty aroma, coffee, fruity. flavor is chocolate, dark malts, faint licorice, oak, tobacco. Very nice
Tried
on 23 Mar 2011
at 10:15
7.6/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
Bottled. A very dark brown beer with a red shine under a lazing brown head. The aroma has notes of roasted matl and chocolate. The flavor is sweet with notes of roasted malt, alcohol, and chocolate, leading to a bitter chocolaty finish.
Tried
from Bottle
on 23 Mar 2011
at 10:06
7.3/10
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Appearance 10
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7
Dark brown color. Smells like a chocolate banana shake with just a touch of smoke and cherries. Roasty, moderately acidic with some fruity notes, but the fruitiness is killed by the acidity and hops just linger and linger. Interesting but not sure this is my favorite.
Tried
on 19 Feb 2011
at 23:51
7.4/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
22oz Bottle at our 10-10-10 tasting. Pours out a brown topped with a small head. Aroma was of bread malts, spice, yeast, and sweetness. Taste was of the bready malts, spice, and sweet chocolate.
Tried
from Bottle
on 07 Dec 2010
at 19:28
9/10
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Appearance 10
Aroma 8
Flavor 9
Texture 10
Overall 9
I enjoyed this at Smallbar in Chicago, IL a couple of days after a Stone promotion at said bar. This is also the first alcoholic beverage consumed after completing the Chicago Marathon, and I can’t think of a better choice for my first brew. Aroma nice vanilla tone, roasted malt. Appearance black with a thin head. Taste very smooth, unsure how lethal this actually is, great vanilla flavor, really freaking good. If I had a bottle I would pull it out for special occasions, but considering it’s limited run at this great Chicago bar, I need to enjoy at a static time.
Tried
from Can
on 11 Oct 2010
at 16:36
7.6/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
Bottle from 10/2010: Very dark brown pour with a finger of creamy beige head. Nose is mostly roast with light bits of coffee. Faint chocolate. Flavor is full of roast with lighter coffee notes and more chocolate. A little of vanilla. A nice bit of Belgian stout here. Update 02/12/12: Holding up nicely. More chocolate and vanilla tones, with modest roast, bittersweet, and Belgian spices. Drinking quite well right about now...
Tried
from Bottle
on 09 Oct 2010
at 14:56
8.3/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 9
Texture 10
Overall 8
Draught at Churchkey. Dark brown, few bubble head. Aroma of chocolate and cardboard. Taste is bitter cocoa and milk chocolate, not bad.
Tried
on 08 Oct 2010
at 16:49
8/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
Bottle 22fl.oz. @ Petalax Beer Festival 2010 - the 4th. edition.Clear dark black brown color with a large, frothy to creamy, good lacing, fully lasting, beige to light brown head. Aroma is moderate to heavy malty, roasted, caramel, chocolate, cacao, tobacco, cask wood. Flavor is moderate to heavy sweet and heavy bitter with a long duration, alcohol, wood, dry, tobacco. Body is medium to full, texture is oily, carbonation is soft, finish feel light to moderate alcohol. [20100703]
Tried
from Bottle
on 14 Jul 2010
at 11:54
7/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7
Bottled@PBF2010. Deep ambery brown colour, mediumsized brown head. Good lace. Aroma is yeast, some plum, mild raisins and some sweet malts Flavour is quite much the same. Rather sweet, otherwise quite nice.
Tried
from Bottle
on 03 Jul 2010
at 02:43