{"id":1991,"date":"2010-10-26T09:00:29","date_gmt":"2010-10-26T14:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.guysdrinkingbeer.com\/?p=1991"},"modified":"2021-08-26T11:46:40","modified_gmt":"2021-08-26T16:46:40","slug":"review-stone-vertical-epic-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.guysdrinkingbeer.com\/review-stone-vertical-epic-10\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Stone Vertical Epic 10.10.10"},"content":{"rendered":"
\nStone says:<\/p>\n
“Fermented with the legendary Ardennes strain of Belgian yeast, 10.10.10 is a Belgian Strong Pale Ale brewed with pale malt and triticale (a cross of wheat and rye), hopped with German Perle hops, and steeped with chamomile during the whirlpool stage. In secondary fermentation, we added a juice blend of Muscat, Gewurztraminer, and Sauvignon Blanc grape varieties.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Stone Vertical Epic 10.10.10
\nBelgian Strong Pale Ale, 9.5% ABV
\n<\/em><\/p>\nSayeth the Guys:<\/em><\/p>\n
Karl:<\/strong> The Stone Vertical Epic series is a bunch of much-talked-about, much-desired, intensely brewed and highly sought after beers that come with a pretty decent pricetag, when you can find it. \u00a0So when the first thing that pops into your brain when you get a whiff of it is that it reminds you of another beer, that\u2019s smaller, and a little more accessible, is that a good thing? \u00a0(Is that a long enough sentence?) \u00a0If it\u2019s a really good beer, do you want to be anything close to derivative of someone else\u2019s product?<\/p>\n
When Ryan popped the cap off of the SVE10, I blurted out something to the effect of \u201cthat smells like!…like…that one, uh, New Glarus! \u00a0You know, the, uh…shit, what was it…\u201d \u00a0We had been, shall we say, tasting for a while. \u00a0\u201cThe Berliner Weiss?\u201d Ryan said. \u00a0And that was it. \u00a0The fresh sparkle of champagne yeasts and bright flavors burst out of the bottle. \u00a0Would they be in the glass?<\/p>\n
Not exactly.<\/p>\n
The nose may have been Ich Bin Ein Berlinerweiss, but the body of this starts out all Belgian, Belgian, Super Belgian. \u00a0Thick. \u00a0Rich. \u00a0A little cloying. \u00a0Huge with yeasts and breadiness and sweetness and banana esters, minus those cloves so present in many Belgians as well. \u00a0If you want a flavor beyond that, you\u2019ve just got to wait.<\/p>\n
In spite of my slightly overserved brain, I knew that I\u2019d have to hang out and give \u2018er a few minutes to see what happened with it as it began to open up. \u00a0I was promised chamomile. \u00a0I was promised wine grapes. \u00a0Would they emerge? \u00a0On my notes I literally wrote the graphical equivalent of \u201cTIME PASSES.\u201d \u00a0Did I think I was going to forget? \u00a0Yeah, probably.<\/p>\n
Give this one ten minutes or more, left alone (or forget about it a bit while, say, playing Call of Duty on XBox) and you start to see some movement. \u00a0The chamomile definitely emerges, almost taking over completely from the Belgian nature of the freshly opened bottle. \u00a0In addition, those wine grapes that went into the brew begin to emerge, but just a little, barely noticeable. \u00a0I can see this one benefiting from a year or two in the cellar and letting the huge Belgian qualities recede a bit, allowing the subflavors chance to elbow their way onto the scene (we\u2019ll be revisiting this one as well in 2012 – stay tuned), but I\u2019m still anticipating the \u201809 we recently checked out just a little more.<\/p>\n
Ryan:<\/strong> You know, Stone probably could have stopped after the German Perle hops and this beer would have been outstanding.\u00a0 But Stone, doing what Stone does best, upped the anti and threw in chamomile and Sauvignon Blanc grape varieties. What you get is a tale of two beers.<\/p>\n
Now, before I go in to the day and night differences of this beer from the time you pour it until you finish it.\u00a0 Let’s talk about how this beer looks.\u00a0 It’s…fascinating.\u00a0 I can appreciate a good looking beer but this was incredible.\u00a0 It was almost like looking through a kaleidoscope<\/a>.\u00a0 There were all sorts of patterns forming in the beer through the off-white lacing.\u00a0 And how about that color?\u00a0 Such a bright, vibrant almost construction-cone orange.<\/p>\n