Stone Vertical Epic 07.07.07

Stone Brewing Company's Vertical Epic Series continues this year with the release of Stone Vertical 070707.

This always impressive California brewer came up with a fantastic marketing idea. They decided to brew one bottle-conditioned ale per year to be aged for consumption in 2012. The idea is that consumers will buy the release each year, which is designed to be aged, and hold onto it until all of the beers are released after 12/12/2012. At that point, we break out all 11 vintages (The first release was 02/02/2002) and do a side-by-side tasting. Each year's beer is completely different and all of the releases so far have been solid. They have created a market for this series, regardless of what the actual beer is. Luckily, Stone rarely disappoints with their brews.

This year's release is a Belgian influenced ale, with some exotic spices added in - ginger, cardamom, grapefruit peel, lemon peel and orange peel. The result is a mix of a Belgian Trippel and a Saison, which is very interesting. The added spices give it a unique aroma and taste that work very well together. The beer weighs in at 8.4% alcohol and is fairly thick and sweet. The 070707 should improve with a few years of aging.

If you are looking to get your hands on the previous releases you have missed, good luck. Seattlest has bottles of the 050505 and 060606 to go along with this year's release, but we have given up hope of acquiring the older vintages.

Ebay is one option for getting older vintages; if you are willing to spend the money. This auction is selling 1 bottle from each year released so far (020202 to 070707); the current bid is $315 and it should get quite a bit higher. This auction has just 1 bottle of the 040404 currently at $74. This auction saw 1 bottle of the 030303 sell for $111.

As much as we love beer, there is no way in hell we will come close to spending that much on 1 bottle. $315 could make for one hell of a night at Brouwer's. If you have an extra bottle or two though...let us know.