Stone Bourbon Barrel Aged Arrogant Bastard

On tap at Three Floyds served in a snifter. Dark mahogany brown pour with a few ruby highlights and a thin head of lasting tan foam. Excellent lace. The aroma was caramel, bourbon, oak/vanilla, and also some faint dark fruits. Not much in common with the base beer. The flavor was overpowered by bourbon and vanilla. Not much left from the origanal other than some caramel. The mouthfeel didn’t suffer from the aging. Full-bodied and lightly carbonated with surprisingly vibrant carbonation. It wasn’t bad, but Arrogant Bastard is better consumed fresh, minus the bourbon.

Tap at Rattle n Hum, Incredible, Sweet and Bitter Taste, Vanilla and Oak notes, strong, smooth finish, would love to have this again!

Bottle. Pours deep amber with a beautiful, aromatic off-white head. Nose of roasted malt, caramel, hops, and hints of pepper. Relatively full body, amazing lacing, and a strong finish. Another great offering from Stone.

Another delicious offering by Stone. Interesting brown pour. Strong hop aroma. Nice crisp chocolate malt taste complimented by vanilla, oak sweetness, and caramel malts. Notes of bourbon, good balancing hop bitterness. Silky texture, long warm finish. An excellent strong ale.

Tap at RNH. Deep amber beer with a thin tan head. The aroma is loaded with bourbon and oak. Very chewy vanilla sweetness and a lot of heavy sweet oakiness. Fairly assertive resinousness, both from the barrel and from the piny hops that are in here. Chewy and sweet with the malts showing lots of sweet caramelly character. The hop flavour is substantially muted from the initial sniff and the beer itself is much boozier than even the original AB, which is saying something. Sweet and chewy and although it isn’t bad, I think less is more when it comes to this beer.

Draft at RNH. Pours black body with a than head. Wow the aggressive hop character is subdued by a nice vanilla and oak. Some lighter vanilla, wood and light bourbon notes. Lighter pine hop and tawny caramel. I liked it.

Tap at Rattle n Hum, full Delirium Tremens glass fill. Sits atop the beer is a 1/2 inch, very thick, cloudy and pillow-y white head. The body is colored a deep burgundy brown, too dark to see through. As the elegant head fades it leaves behind a sticky lacing. The beer itself is very interesting, I am a fan of Arrogant Bastard for its, well, arrogance. It is an in-your-face alcoholic, piny, sweet malt bomb. However, the barrel has a very different effect on it then I thought. Instead of becoming more of a prick of a beer it actually mellows the beer and turns it into a humble legitimate beer. Or maybe I have just grown to be used to the arrogance. Aroma has that lightly alcoholic sweet mash maltiness with some piny hops peaking through. The bourbon adds a little bit more alcoholic touches, but in a gentle manner. The alcohol grows stronger as the beer warms. Flavor has a bit of dry oak leafiness added to the other aspects. Not too different from the regular, a bit smoother and less abrasive. Has a nice thick feeling mouthfeel and better attenuated then the regular version. I’ll resonate some of the other statements below, its better balanced then I expected, has a nice mouthfeel, and avoids some pitfalls of barrel brews.

Draft at Rattle N Hum. Yea no the barrel didn’t do good things for this one. Quite messy pallette. Bourbon is present. Light oak, hops and alcohol. I don’t care for it. Well balanced and well attenuated. On the way home this 15 year old drunk chick puked on the train which was awesome though...