Stone (and company) – Special Holiday Brew
Mar0
Yummy spices!
Recently I got my hands on Stone’s/Nøgne-Ø’s/Jolly Pumpkin’s special holiday ale and I am glad that I did. This is a pretty mellow beer that tastes great. Admittedly I was a little hesitant to try this beer at first since the additional spices involved with this beer are: chestnuts, juniper berries, white sage and caraway seeds. With all of these additional spices I was curious to see if the beer tasted good or like someone threw my grandma’s spice rack into the brewing process. Thankfully the spices are not over powering but you can taste hints of additional spices. Another interesting thing about this beer is that it is a compilation of three different breweries: Stone, Nøgne-Ø and Jolly Pumpkin. I could imagine that the logistics of creating this beer was a bit of a pain-in-the ass since the companies are spread throughout the world (Norway, Michigan and San Diego).
On thing I initially noticed is that this beer is fairly carbonated, not to the point of soda but it is definitely not flat. It has a fairly sharp aftertaste but not like what you normally expect from a hoppy beer. I think the sharpness comes more from the caraway seeds but I can’t be 100% sure. This is a darker beer with a small almost non-exsistent head when poured. The beer is supposed to be packing a 9.0% ABV which is fairly strong but it doesn’t taste like a beer that strong or I am just getting used to these stronger beers 
. As the beer warms up the bitterness almost disappears and the spices become more prominent. Also, at the bottom of the cup you can see white sediment which I am assuming is the white sage. Overall I thought this beer was decent but I think you have to have specific tastes in order to like it.
The good: Unique flavor and easy to drink
The bad: Some people might not like all of the different spices
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Stone 08.08.08 Vertical Epic
Mar0
Let's get vertical
Recently I had Stone’s 08/08/08 vertical epic. I couldn’t wait till 12.12.12 which is how long the beer was supposed to sit before drinking it.Some background on the epic series, it started on 01.01.01 and is brewed in increments for each year. The idea behind it was to try all of the beers in a vertical tasting on 12.12.12. Which sounds awesome but there are two problems for me related to that idea:
1) I am not that patient
2) When they started this I wasn’t even able to buy beer and I was ignorant on the ways of beer
Let’s get back to the review shall we? The beer initially tastes like a mix between a sour and a Belgian beer. This beer is incredibly easy to drink and is very light. One of the most interesting things I find about this beer is that even though it seems like a light beer it is packing a powerful punch! This beer weighs in at 8.5% ABV meaning this is no light easy going beer if you drank this one on an empty stomach get ready to feel something . This beer is so light some people might mistake it for a lager but is like no lager I have ever tasted. As this beer warms up it becomes slightly more bitter and sharper tasting.
The good: easy to drink light beer, won’t fill you up but will make you feel warm inside.
The bad: if someone wanted to do it correctly they would have to hold off till 12.12.12 to drink this dang thing!
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