The recommend-a-beer thread

I'm preparing for my Stone Vertical Epic tasting on 12/15.
I have the 03', 05', 07'-12' years, and I'm going to continue with tasting of other beers I have in my collection. It should be a good time.

Since the amount of beer is extremly limited (and I want everyone to get a decent buzz) I'm pre-gaming the tasting.
Here's the tasting so far-

To start things off I'll probably start out with a bottle for each person of the first two beers (well, maybe close to a whole bottle...)

Staropramen - Czech Republic - ligh, mild malty flavor with honeycomb aftertaste
Leffe - Belgium- very light wheat beer with flavors of clove and banana
03' Stone VE- malty, molasses and caramel, hints of coriander, trace of grains of paradise, candy sweetness, some sherry-aged notes, tart wheat, some oxidation
05' VE- Chocolate toffee, some dried fruit, anise, chocolate roastiness, dark wheat, fig, raisin, coffee, sherry, leather
07' - Ginger, very floral, some citrus, a little botanically bitter, sweet, spices, hint of yeast
08' - Nice hop bitterness, citrus, strong spice, malt candy sweetness, tropical fruit, piney
09' - Chocolate, fruit, hints of vanilla, mild oak, orange
10'- Hops, bitterness, citrus, fruit, wine grape flavors, yeast characters (had this one a while back and it was wonderful)
11' - Chile peppers, cinnamon, malt sweetness, caramel, fruit (had this one too, but wasn't impressed)
12' - Intense cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice with banana esters dominate up front. Hints of citrus arrive mid-palate, while molasses notes persevere in the finish along with a very nice dark-roasted malt dryness

Irish Death - Iron Hose Brewery - last time I had it I was **** faced, but I remember it was great LINKY for beer info
Throw in a few Omegang beers...
last two to really finish people off
Old Guardian - Stone- It's a barley wine, so will you really be able to taste anything after all the other beers?
Stone Double Arrogant - just to **** with people

Is it too much?

btw, all Stone VE tasting notes were copied from stonebrewing.com

Is it too much? Depends on your motivation. If the goal is to get isht-faced, no, it's not too much. If the goal is to taste and appreciate all the beers, then IMO it's way too much. Also depends on how many people will be tasting and if you have food/snacks to palette cleanse and fortify.

It's your tasting so run it how you wish. But if it were me:

Start off with the Vertical Epics and go down the line. Crack bottle 1 (I like my beers on the warmer side so leave them sit out for about 20 mins before cracking), taste, everyone take notes if they wish. Talk about it. Move on to bottle 2 and so on. Palette cleanse when needed. Cheese, crackers, charcuterie work well. Have a pitcher of water to rinse out tasting glasses in between bottles. Once you've gone through the vertical then think about cracking open some extra bottles. Depending on who's tasting, by this time their taste buds might be exhausted so keep that in mind before cracking open bottles you've been saving for a tasting.

Just my .02.

We have 7 people at the tasting, so I'm anticipating 3oz pours for the VEs. For the others it's probably more. S-faced will probably happen without the Omegangs, so I could scratch them off the list.

It is a bit ambitious...

I'd say hit the VE's first since those are the ones you really want to focus on first. No sense destroying your palette before you can get to the beers you really want to focus on. After the VE's are done, then hit up whatever you think would be good.

I may have posted this pic in this thread before. This is what we blew through at a tasting I hosted. By the final third our palettes were done and we were pretty sloppy.
http://i46.tinypic.com/293c31u.jpg

Eureka Burger in Claremont is tapping 12-12-12 for their Steal the Glass night next Wednesday. Try the beer and keep the glass. They said they will also have some of the earlier releases dating back to 7-7-7 on tap as well. The event starts at 6pm.

Eureka Burger

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DougW8

Eureka Burger in Claremont is tapping 12-12-12 for their Steal the Glass night next Wednesday. Try the beer and keep the glass. They said they will also have some of the earlier releases dating back to 7-7-7 on tap as well. The event starts at 6pm.

Eureka Burger

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Pretty cool! Unfortunately I won't be able to make it.

Good news though, the Stone company store in Pasadena has the 121212 tapped as I type, and it's yummy. They're going to have the 111111 on tap soon too. I bought two bottles of the 12 and a double arrogant to kill people's palate at the end.
Good times!

I have 1 bottle left of the 08-08-08. Wasn't impressed with the 11, but am hoping to get another taste of the 10. That was my favorite of those I tried.

Agreed on the 10 and 11. We'll see how the turned out.

Somebody may have posted about it earlier but Knee Deep's Simtra is a really good DIPA that's flying under the radar.

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...36F78338C2.jpg
I recommend that I drink this beer and eat these fries.