The inspiration for this year's edition comes from a trip to Belgium taken by Stone Brewmaster Steve Wagner and Head Brewer Mitch Steele in early 2008. There they discovered a special edition of a renowned Belgian golden triple that had been extra hopped up with American hops. Back in Escondido, we opened the bottle and found that it was good. Very good, in fact. Being the hop lovers that we are…
In this year’s edition we took our inspiration from two Belgian styles: saisons and golden tripels. As such, Stone 07.07.07 Vertical Epic Ale has a deep, deep golden hue and the flavor is spicy, fruity, complex and refreshing. We used four different malts and a subtle, yet distinct, blend of Glacier and Crystal hops to get just the right balance. Then, for the complexity, we added in some exotic…
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 time around, we used no spices in the brewing of this beer. If you've tasted the beer before reading this, that may surprise you. The special Belgian yeast we used adds a distinctively spicy aroma and flavor. Roastiness, clove, hops, fruitiness, and other great and funky phenols abound in the nose. What's in the flavor? You certainly get some dark roasted malts and alcohol overtones. What…
As with the 02.02.02 and 03.03.03, we are again making a detailed homebrewing recipe available on our blog. This time around we used some unmalted wheat, just the right touch of kaffir lime leaf and a really cool Belgian yeast. The result is a bit like a strong Bière de Garde/Saison-esque influenced beer coupled with some aromatic Bavarian Hefeweizen-style phenolic banana esters, and a backnote…
As with Stone 02.02.02 Vertical Epic Ale, we are pleased to again make the full homebrewing recipe available on our blog. We used some pretty interesting ingredients this time around: coriander (a "Belgian-style" beer favorite!), alligator pepper (Wow! Bite into these little gems and you get a bigtime spicy rush of flavor), and a bit of both unmalted wheat and dark roasted wheat. And a blend of…
What about Stone Vertical Epic Ale 01.01.01? Well, there are two reasons for its non-existence: (1) We didn't want to participate in the whole overhyped media nonsense of "Millennium this" and "Millennium that," and (2) we didn't think of the Stone Vertical Epic Ale idea until the fall of 2001 (which was already too late for a 01.01.01 version.) Sure, we could wait until the year 3001 to start…
Life is extraordinarily precious, joyous...and fragile. In 2013, we suffered the tragic loss of our dear friend and coworker, Matt Courtright. In the midst of our grief, we pulled together as the family we are, suggesting and exploring numerous ways to pay tribute to our dearly departed colleague. In the end, we felt there was no finer way to honor his memory than to brew one of his most recent…
Inspiration comes from many sources. The inspiration for Sawyer's Triple came from namesake Sawyer Benjamin Sherwood, the 8-year-old son of Stone brewer Bill Sherwood and his wife, Janis. Over a period of four years, we had the distinct pleasure of getting to know Sawyer via his visits to the brewery or at the occasional backyard BBQ. An engaging and athletic kid if you ever knew one! In early…
Inspired by new experimental German hops, our brewing team is celebrating our 17ten Jahrestag by taking palates on an unconventional tour of Deutschland by way of Southern California. In doing so, we used a grain bill composed exclusively of pilsner malts and German hops with crazy awesome names: Herkules, Hersbrucker, Magnum, Merkur, Opal, Smaragd & Strisselspalt. Dry-hopping with Sterling,…
