I fell in love with the Stone Vertical Epic series last year with the release of the 2008 Strong Goldon Belgian Ale, which has more hops then Michael Jordan. I loved it so much, that I bought a case of em to cellar to 2012 and am slowly trying to find people with older years so I have 02-12 with the release of the last version. This year, Stone busted out the 09-09-09 as a Belgian Porter with spices. I quickly snagged a couple of bottles and threw a cellared 2008 in the fridge overnight to do a mini vertical tasting.
The 08-08-08 still didn’t disappoint, well me at least. Dean and Sam didn’t care for it as much as they did last year. It definitely lost a lot of it’s hoppiness over the past year. I am skeptical that this will be able to still wow me in 2012 for the final tasting of these bad boys. It had a lot more of a peppery spiciness to it, although the banana man smoking a joint kicking me in the face smell was still there like I remembered. I would probably would have given this beer an A/A- last year, I think now it is creeping towards B+ range.
The 09-09-09 impressed the shit out of us when we poured it. Though it had a head that was a bit over-bearing, watching the bubbles fall up and down the glass was nothing short of breath taking. It had a great sweet chocolate note to the nose that reminded us of s’mores. The taste was similar to most porters that I have had in the past, but with a unique sweetness that bounced around your tongue. I have high hopes that this beer will continue to age well over the next 3 years, I will definitely be picking up some more of these to cellar.
2 years ago • 0 notes • view comments