Stone 09.09.09

I had been looking for this year’s Stone Vertical Epic — the 09.09.09 — since, well, September 9th. Unlike last year’s (08.08.08 if you’re bad at seeing patterns), I hadn’t been able to find it until today, though in Stone’s defense I don’t go to beer stores all that often. And remember how I was surprised that the 07s were still around last year? Yeah, they’re still around. A dollar more than the 09s (with the 08s halfway in between), but still around.

I bought three bottles of the 09: one to drink now, one to drink in a while and one in a vertical tasting after the 12.12.12 is out. It pours black with a tan head, not letting any light in even when held to light, though the legs are brown (with no ruby to be found). I initially thought it smelled fairly bready, which may have been from the yeast or may have been me mistaking the chocolate aroma for bread (yeah, I don’t know why I’d confuse the two either). I also got some dark sweetness; not fruity, but not brown sugar either. There was no hop aroma, which considering my last visit to Stone’s beers was a bit of a surprise.

Once I tasted it, I got many of the same sensations in tongue form: chocolatey, warming with some bitterness. Not hoppy, though: more like dark chocolate. There was also an intangible sensation of the beer being unrefined, needing to cellar more. As it stands I’d like to think I could brew a better beer myself, which isn’t something I want to say of a bottle I paid $8 for.

I read the bottle after my initial blind tasting and found that yes, chocolate plays a big role this year. They also claim that tangerine peels and vanilla are present, though I don’t really get them at all. It does taste slightly like one of those chocolate oranges you get to give a satisfying smack on the table to break apart, but I stand by my assertion that this needs time to age. Frankly, being in ‘oh shit there’s a baby on the way don’t spend any money’ mode, I regret spending the ~$30 on these. With any luck. I’ll revisit the beer in 2011 or 2012 and be much more impressed.

(And lest you think I’m vehemently anti-Stone: between this, the 13th Anniversary and Greg Koch’s anti-adjunct propaganda, yeah I’m not exactly their biggest fan. But I also picked up their Cali-Belgique IPA and quite liked it.)