Days of the Beer, July 7

The beer for today is Stone 07.07.07 Vertical Epic Ale.

There aren't too many things that have happened today in history. So it's July 7, 7-7. It's Saba Saba Day in Tanzania... whoo hoo (Saba Saba means Seven Seven).

Oh, Stone's Vertical Epic line started on 02-02-02 (Feb. 2, 2002) They will be releasing a beer on that the day/month/year up until 12-12-12. At which point, if you are lucky enough to still have a bottle of 02-02-02, you are supposed to have one of each and have a vertical tasting.

The really old ones are hard to find. There's an 03, 04, 05 for sale on Ebay currently going for $57, $20 and $16 respectively.

I've got 06 and 07 at home... so hmm... do I want to bid on 3,4,5?

Here's the description:

In this year's edition we took our inspiration from two Belgian styles: Saisons and Golden Triples. As such, the Stone 07.07.07 Vertical Epic 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 spices --- including ginger, cardamom, grapefruit peel, lemon peel and orange peel (the latter three acknowledging our Southern California home) --- and a special Belgian yeast strain. All in all this is yet another case of us drawing from classic Belgian influences and cavalierly making it our own...San Diego style!

Seven's are wild today, so go watch se7en, drink a 7-7-7 and relax.

The next in the line comes out August 8, the same day that the Olympics start.

I had this beer on October 2 of last year, and I think it was pretty good. I'm a fan of most Stone work, so I don't see how I couldn't like this one.