Double Bastard Ale

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

Pours a deep cloudy copper brown with a glowing red hue and a mid sized off-white creamy head. Aroma is very fresh and pungent citrus hops with a lot of grapefruit and pineapple. A solid caramel malt backbone gives the aroma a nice roundness. Flavor starts with a creamy sweet toasted malt character with a little buttery and a slightly tart fruitiness. Gains the powerful bitter edge from the hop resin. Can detect hints of the alcohol. Becomes very floral and spicy in the swallow and finishes with a bite but keeps its nice malt sweetness. Medium to full body and moderate carbonation. Very well balanced and rounded. Nice fresh taste.

Poured a dark brown/copper with a tan/beige head. Aroma was very sweet with notes of toasted malts, and caramel. Palate is medium with strong flavors of toasted malts. A decent amount of hops in the flavor as well. Some alcohol is present. Finish is slightly bitter. Overall very good, but the balance was a little different.

You can’t consider yourself even a well-informed novice until you’ve drank your own birth year in beers, so here goes. 650ml bottle. Deep copper pour with a dirty diminishing beige collar. Specks of lace, ample legs. Plenty of sweaty resinous hops in the aroma, notes of tangerine peel, blackcurrant even raspberry, pollen, toffee malt richness, dab of Marmite, phenolic heady apple, almond, butterscotch,raisiny choc hints and thyme after an hour,loads of alcohol. Quite an integrated, English-like combo of house yeast fruitiness, caramelised malt and floral/citrus hops that reminds me of Fullers, White Shield, Burton Bridge... every now and again a waft of pure hop joy. But it’s not enough. Alcohol and hop astringency in the mouth. Alpha floral and tanging with soapy citrus but overwhelmed by booze, shampoo and quinine. The punch of hops without the promised aromatics. Aftertaste utterly drenched with retronasal alcohol, if no burn. Slick and full but losing its lace and head. Tipping some into Octo’s glass. Delicious smelling ale but the least balanced and enjoyable of my US box, and by the pint+ measure a bit of a struggle.

22oz bottle, 2008 release, dark copper color, with a thick beige head, leaving a veil of lacing, sweet toasty, caramel malt, minty, herbal, medicinal floral hop nose, with some resinous, leafy piney accents, with a toffeeish, hint of cookie dough, and a light lime citrusy aroma follows though on medium-bodied palate with a warmth, sweet toasted, caramelized malt, flowery hop resinous, spearmint character, with a hint of fruity elderberry accent, with some piney, leafy, cedary flavors, within smooth malty background, and some light zesty, lime, lemon peel, citrusy notes, leading towards a warming, toasty, citrusy, intense resiny, piney, grassy hop bitterness finish.

I’m a bit torn over this one. On the one end it is a strong drink that bites hard. on the other, it bites very friggen hard. This felt like a fistfight in my mouth. Not very pleasant to drink, very friggen bitter, probably to bitter. I’d give this one more shot, but most likely i won’t change my opinion much

I liked this beer. Unlike its counter part arrogant bastard this double actually tastes like something besides hops. In fact when I ordered the large bottle at Highlands in Kennesaw, the bartender sent over a sample glass with it because I was tasting it before him. This beer is excellent and I suggest you try it and add it to you list. I got the 22oz bottle, and that is MORE than enough though, not an all night drinker even for the fanatic.

See Bastard, Arrogant. I didn’t think this stuff was much different, just slightly stronger with a little more intense flavors. Orangish-brown color with off-white head. Aroma is hops and sweet malt, typical of West Coast hoppy ales and Stone in particular. Flavor is more of the same, very citrusy, heavy on Amarillo hops with a sweet malt backbone. Sticky, full mouthfeel, a lot like a West Coast barleywine.

Bottle, pours a hazy orange amber red brown beer with a creamy off white head. Arom a is sweet and hoppy. Flavor is sweet fruit, pine and citurs hoppieness. Very bitting full body beer with a bitter as hell finish. Taste like an American style Barley Wine but better. Bottle reads 10.5%. Awesome