Arrogant Bastard Ale

Brewed by Stone Brewing Co.
Style: American Strong Ale
Escondido, California USA

Pours a very dark red color with some brownish head. Very rich, complex aroma. Great flavor; roasted malt with some caramel. Very nice palate, with a great finsih and nice lace. Damn fine ale.

Julios Spring Beer Festival. Pour of orange fringed mahogany, topped with tan. Wicked rich aroma of fresh Cascade hop dust and oranges. Destructive hop flavor. There’s a massive glowering freshness of squeezed navel oranges and ruby red grapefruit. This all runs over a current of sweet creamy malt and heavenly darker sugars. Finishes with some warming creamy hop sugars. There’s no denying this beer is fantastic!

another great beer from stone, imagine that. the alcohol is not strong at all and is just right. i’m very glad that i tried this beer.

Pour was a deep amber/brown with a perfect tan head with a great amount of lacing. Aroma was earthy hops. Taste was like their IPA without a huge hoppy follow through in the end (which would be a huge plus for the non-hop heads). I can see the mass appeal for this beer. It’s an IPA that doesn’t commit to the bitterness in the aftertaste.

Has a rusty color with a thin tan head. Nice toffee sweet and grapefruit hop smell. Medium bodied and lightly carbonated. Nice caramel malt flavor with a strong grapefruit hop bitterness to finish. This beer will keep your house mates from ever raiding your cellar stash again ! april 2003

You’re probably too stupid to understand this review. Nothing I hate worse than casting pearls before swine...but one more time...slowly so you might get it! It pours a beautiful red with a briefly lingering head. The stunning aroma is a hophead dream...grapefruit and pine. Wonderful balance between the intense hop bitterness and the equally intense roasted malt sweetness. Very warming alcohol presence. Great ASA. Why do I waste my time telling you anything? Christ! I’m surrounded by idiots!!!

22 oz. in quart Mason. Deep mahogany that is a clear, ruby red when held to the light. Medium large, tan head lasts fairly well with some crusty lacing. Aroma is fresh and prickly pine hops with grapefruit and some malt support. Initial taste is surprisingly not so hoppy, and very smooth. Hops still dominate this beer - pine resin, dirty leaf, oak and light citrus - but the big malt body balances it pretty well with some dark fruit tastes. Very luscious and creamy, medium-bodied beer. Pretty two dimensional, but still a nice beer.

Okay, so I just need to start by saying that this is my 100th rating – I’m so excited, here comes the little crown by my user name and a whole new level of respect (I think!?!) Although I didn’t specifically plan it this way until just about a week ago, the Arrogant Bastard gets to cross this esteemed threshold with me. And that seems fitting somehow. It was this aggressive muther of a beer that lured me back to the dark side 3 years ago and inspired me to recommit to drinking good quality brews rather than those mass produced light posers that I’d settled with for a few years. So I do hold a fond spot in my heart for this liquid arrogance. It’s also fitting that this is a beer from Stone, a San Diego brewery – and if you notice, my user name is SD bru boy! Local boy, local brew. Okay, enough exposition, on to the rating. This ale pours thick and dark – almost opaque, but caramel-red if you hold it up to a bright light. It gives rise to a massive light brown head, which takes its own good time to dissipate. The head also leaves beautiful lacing from the top to the bottom of the glass. The aroma, ahhhh heavenly (in my version of heaven anyway), rich roasted malts, spices, caramel, dried apricots, citrus, light roasted coffee and abundant floral hops (but not those pretty, dainty little flower kind of floral hops, these are the bold, assertive kind of flower, floral hops that reach out and smack you in the nose –overly zealous, huge, flesh eating and redolent – those kind of flower, floral hops). The flavor is big, really big and scary. It’s the kind of flavor that the entirety of the Anheuser-Busch Corp. cringes and runs away from like a little schoolgirl confronted by a roaring, drooling, stalking tyrannosaur. It’s a flavor that assails the tongue with muscular – yet oddly graceful – sweet roasted malts, ripe berries, subtle alcohol and fruitiness balanced by the most amazing blast of hops ever to lay waste to a patch of taste buds. The body is thick – charging the border toward syrupy, but then pulling back at the last minute to deliver a supple, creamy dose of carbonation. It has a body to lust after (in mind, in heart and in palate). So now I’ll say it again, ahhhh, ahhhh, ahhhh! An amazing brew and one to which I owe a debt of gratitude. Thank you Stone, thank you Arrogant Bastard, I’m doing my best to prove myself worthy…