The Session, a.k.a. Beer Blogging Friday, is an opportunity once a month for beer bloggers from around the world to get together and write from their own unique perspective on a single topic. Each month, a different beer blogger hosts the Session, chooses a topic and creates a round-up listing all of the participants, along with a short pithy critique of each entry.
The premise for this month’s is this:
Have you ever drank a beer that became a battle, more than an enjoyable experience? Maybe a beer that was far bigger than you had anticipated? Something you felt determined to drink, just so you can say you conquered that son of a bitch, and you are all that is powerful. Or perhaps it is something that is just so bad, all you want to do is slap it around a bit. Or maybe you were on the verge of passing out, but you just wanted that one last beer, and the valiant struggle between taste bud fulfillment and the velvety embrace of sleep that ensued.
Sure there are plenty of beers that were finished by sheer force of will, (or dumped if warranted) but the one that comes to mind was not a result of it being a portion size issue – say a bomber of something that maybe a 12oz serving of would have been perfect – or if it had legitimate defects or infection – or maybe even some spiced up beer designed to be an endurance drinking challenge, like a chili pepper eating contest.
No the beer that did it to me had none of that, it was as the brewer intended and it was bad from the first sip through the last.
The beer: Stone’s Vertical Epic 12-12-12 (served around 7-7-14) . It drank like they decided to dump someone’s entire spice cabinet into the bottle. It wasn’t a full pumpkin pie bomb, or something cohesive, it had something else going on. What it was I still don’t know.
It was random, clashing, really overall jarring. Maybe I missed the crowd source campaign that would have had them limit the spice dumps if they raised enough money to by some Ketchup for the World Bistro?
If you ever needed proof that ratings could be effected by limited releases or rarity, look no further. This release is currently holding at 97% rating on Rate beer and 88% on BA.
