DBB – Stone, Oaked Arrogant Bastard Ale

Drink Better Beer

Stone Brewing Co.Oaked Arrogant Bastard Ale

7.2 abv (hmm, that’s pretty good)

The picture above is what greets when you visit arrogantbastard.com and that text is printed on the back of every bottle. They aren’t kidding when they say it’s an aggressive beer, and you might not like it. It’s strong, it’s bitter, it’s like being hit in the mouth with a bedpost with every sip and I loved every minute of it. There are three different versions of this beer. There’s the regular Arrogant Bastard Ale (which I’ve had a few times before), the Double Bastard Ale (a limited edition beer, that I haven’t tried yet), and the Oaked Arrogant Bastard Ale (which is what I’m reviewing now).

I picked up a bottle last week at Bocktown Beer and Grill in Pittsburgh, it’s a great bar with good food and an amazing selection of microbrews. I eat there almost everytime I go to Pittsburgh. After I ate, I had a few beers and listened to a great live band (The Metropolitans), I picked up a bottle of Oaked Arrogant Bastard Ale and Flying Dog In Heat Wheat (which I’ll be reviewing soon) and headed back to my hotel. I turned on the TV to find that Barrack Obama had won the election so I celebrated by pouring the beer into a fine high quality hotel glass (or should I say plastic) and drank it while watching “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull“. The movie was surprisingly good, at least compared to all the negative reviews that I’ve seen, It can’t really compare to the first three, though.

The main thing that jumps out at you when you taste this beer is the oak. It’s as if they squeezed the juice right out of an oak tree then added a splash of beer on top. The thing is, the oak flavor works, you’ve still got the hops, and the malt, but there’s an added pop the just makes this beer taste right. It’s something you’ll just have to try to truly appreciate.

Stone Brewing Company is headquartered in Escondido, Ca, and was founded in 1996 in San Marcos, Ca by Steve Wagner and Greg Koch.

According to Wikipedia:

Stone Brewing is known for the aggressive Arrogant Bastard Ale, although the brewery considers Stone Pale Ale and Stone IPA to be its flagship beers. Most of their beers are characteristic of west-coast craft brews; that is to say, most beers have a traditionally ‘hoppy’ flavor. Stone beers are bottled in 22 ounce bottles, 12oz six packs, and occasionally 3 litre bottles.”