Arrogant Bastard Ale

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

Solid stuff. Malty with oak and great citrusy hops. Bitterness sticks with you. Great at the beginning of the huge bottle, but a struggle to finish it if you are drinking it by yourself. Medium-full mouthfeel. Awesome write-up on the back label.

Tap at RFD Washington. Fairly clear pour of a dark amber hue. Head is resilient. Apples and oranges with a kind of dry cinnamon and sugar dust on the nose. A touch of alcohol. An intial taste of fat strawberries and cream is quite charming. Massive resinous hops power through with a syrupy punch. Toasted malts and sweet orange juice round a classic interplay of strong ale benchmarks - most intelligently executed. Smooth, textured, green palate with a predictable hit of oaky heat. This one certainly has enough foundation that it could sit for a while. More likeable than most.

Poured from a bottle. Absolutely gorgeous beer. Dark red with a very thick off white head. The head reminds me of the scummy foam you see in poluted rivers, I mean that in a good way, it compliments the color perfectly. The aroma has hints of vanilla and cinnamon with a solid hop backing. Tastes of pine, plenty of hops, a little cinnamon and an underlying sweetness that wraps things up nicely. Decent mouthfeel, stays on your palate for a good long while after finishing it. Being stuck in a 6% ABV state, this is one of those beers that I always wanted to try. I was not dissapointed. I’m a sucker for packaging and this just might be the funniest description ever.

Nice clear brownish ruby color. Small off-white fzzy/soapy head. Aroma has alcohol, and some caramel cherries. Taste seems sweet with some bitter orange, wood, and other fruit. Nice mouthfeel; sweet oily stickiness. Pretty good overall, although nothing really dominated the aroma or flavor. I’ve sat on this a while, and would like to try a fresher bottle at some point.

On tap @ The Hopyard Pleasanton. Ruddy/ brown color, hoppy cutris nose. It lives up to it’s name. I can see how many wouldn’t like it because of the citrus, pine, hop combo. One of the more complex Ale’s out there. Try it a year later if you didn’t like it the first time. You may aquire a taste! Will have again.

RE-RATE #2: Had to bump it up some more. I mean, being able to be with a bunch of crappy beer drinking friends and saying to the bartender, ’Give me a pint of the bastard!’ and when your friends ask for a taste, they cringe at the intensity...how cool is that? RE-RATE: How my taste has changed in about 6 months. I gave this beer several more chances because I love everything else that Stone puts out and because it’s perfect to drink from my Arrogant Bastard pint glass. I have definitely developed a taste for it. The aftertaste still doesn’t appeal much to me, but the flavor has a very strange and complex fruitiness - something that is hard to describe in terms of existing fruits, it’s as if it tastes like a fruit that God forgot to invent. If I had to describe it, I’d say lemons and grapefruit is about as close as one could get. It seems to somehow make it into the malt profile and hoppiness. Quite nice! ORIGINAL RATING: I find this stuff over-rated. The flavor is okay but unremarkable (raisins, figs?) but the aftertaste kills anything else good about the beer. I walked out of the pub a few minutes later wishing for some crackers and water.

i thought this was one awesome beer! deep amber color, very thick and frothy head on my bottle that left lacing up the entire glass. nice hoppy and mild citrus flavors. the bitterness in this beer lasts forever (almost literally), but it’s very well-balanced in my opinion.

Tasted somewhere along my trip through the States.
Amber, brown colored brew. Sweet malty with some hops. Some hops and fruits and bitterness in the flavor. Good be more balanced.