Stone typically brews its Vertical Epic series in a Belgian style, and I'll admit that I drank most of the previous years' beers without knowing much about Belgian beers. I have corrected this over the past few years and loved last year's version of a hoppy Belgian tripel. Here is brief description of this year's beer:
The Stone 09.09.09 Vertical Epic Ale is a bit of departure from the last two Stone Vertical Epic Ale editions, which were golden in color. The newest one can best be described as a Belgian style Imperial Porter. The beer is deep brown, with intense roasted character provided by chocolate malt.The longer description and tasting notes can be found here on Stone's blog. I know the VE series can seem gimmicky, but the beers have been so good that the notion of gimmick was erased in my mind years ago. I have bottles stashed around my house dating to VE04.04.04, although it has been hard not to drink my last VE08.08.08.
The Bruery, the outstanding Orange County brewery, is also doing a series. It is based on the Twelve Days of Christmas Christmas carol, and this year I am looking forward to Two Turtle Doves (the second in the series - duh), which I think is a Belgian quadrupel. The first, Partridge in a Peartree was also a quadrupel.
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