Stone - Arrogant Bastard

Tonight I'm drinking Stone Arrogant Bastard Ale.  This classifies as an American Strong Ale, with a hefty 7.2%ABV.  Stone has an awesome blurb on their website about this beer, and I'm going to quote it below, for your reading pleasure. 



Stone - rebel craft brewers with a devil mascot...arrogant bastards!

 "This is an aggressive ale. You probably won’t like it. It is quite doubtful that you have the taste or sophistication to be able to appreciate an ale of this quality and depth. We would suggest that you stick to safer and more familiar territory–maybe something with a multi-million dollar ad campaign aimed at convincing you it’s made in a little brewery, or one that implies that their tasteless fizzy yellow beverage will give you more sex appeal. Perhaps you think multi-million dollar ad campaigns make things taste better. Perhaps you’re mouthing your words as you read this. 

At Stone Brewing, we believe that pandering to the lowest common denominator represents the height of tyranny - a virtual form of keeping the consumer barefoot and stupid. Brought forth upon an unsuspecting public in 1997, Arrogant Bastard Ale openly challenged the tyrannical overlords who were brazenly attempting to keep Americans chained in the shackles of poor taste. As the progenitor of its style, Arrogant Bastard Ale has reveled in its unprecedented and uncompromising celebration of intensity. There have been many nods to Arrogant Bastard Ale…even outright attempts to copy it… but only one can ever embody the true nature of liquid Arrogance!"

The beer is a beautiful, dark reddish brown with a huge two+ inch fluffy head - really a nice looking beer, and with great retention.  The nose is a blend of aromatic, piney hops, toasty malts, and a alcohol-soaked plums.  The taste is pretty complex, there's a lot going on in this one.  Starts off with a big sweet maltyness, caramel and butterscotch primarily.  Things quickly divert from there into a big, bitter chunk of hop flavors that are spicy, oily and more pine cones.  Those pine flavors have been a recurring theme for Stone (and yes, that's a good thing).  The finish moves back into sweet territory, with more of caramel and a hint of roasted grains, everything ending dry.  The body on this beer is hard to judge, definitely on the heavier side, but the higher carbonation breaks it up and helps with the drinkability.

Overall Rating:  This is a big, complex, hoppy beer that legitimizes Stone Brewing's obnoxious arrogance.  They made a good beer, and they know it!  Those of you that like the barleywine style will love this beer.  Although this is technically an American Strong Ale, it drinks like a good barleywine. 


**Side Note:  As you may have noticed, I'm doing away with the number ratings.  From now on, I'm going to rate beers from 1 to Z and everywhere in between.