Double Bastard Ale

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

Pours a thick red/brown. The beer is completely opaque with a good amount of carbonation and a small white head and good lacing. This beer looks like a meal in a glass. The first thing you taste is a thick caramel malt with maybe a hint of orange peel and honey then hops, lots of hops! The finish is immediately bitter but quickly backs down leaving a deliciously bitter taste on the palate for 10-15 seconds and a sticky honey malt flavor on the roof of your mouth. Alcohol is hardly noticeable. Excellent beer to be enjoyed with friends on special occasions.

2008 12 oz. Disappointing. Beautiful looking beer. If it tasted how it smelled it would be a wonder. Very one-note bitter hoppiness, not fruity or flowery or balanced with any full, roasty or sweet maltiness at all, just bitter, bitter, bitter hoppiness in the flavor. The only saving grace of this beer is that it seems to smooth out as it warms, thank the beer gods for that. Sorry Stone but you and the rest of the west coast may have to come to grips with your hops obsession (Ruination!!!!!! Great brewery but off key with this guy.

Bouteille de 22 oz partagée lors d’une dégustation Ratebeer Montréal chez MartinT. Arôme: Odeur d’houblons avec une pointe de céréales et de fruité. Apparence: La couleur est ambrée. Présence d’un mince col mousseux et d’une fine dentelle sur le verre. Saveur: Goût de caramel fruité et d’houblons. Durée moyenne de l’arrière goût. Palette: Le corps est moyen avec une texture huileuse. Moyenne effervescence en bouche. Présence de caramel en arrière goût. (Rating #2053)

Bomber bottle. Aroma is really sweet with lots of fruity notes and plenty of caramel. Taste is hoppy and fresh with lots of caramelcandy,fruit and some malt. Really well balanced. Nice and creamy mouthfeel. Certainly a treat!

Dark pour with a minimal tan head. Huge hops, a little malt, smoke, and fruit aroma. Huge hops flavor. A very big beer. Nothing subtle at all with this. The high ABV is unsociable at the finish. Great brew.

Style and Glass: American Strong Ale, Snifter; trappist ABV, Volume & Calories: 10.5% in 22 fl oz. estimated at 400 C Purchased at: Canal’s Lawrenceville, NJ for $7.99 Having this on Christmas night to finish off an amazing day. Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all of you. Aroma: amazing, sweet, flowery, hoppy, grassy, heavenly, malty, earthy, mold. Visuals: nice label design, what seas might look like in hell, menacing deep red, brilliant, clear, thick white head, sticky tight lace. Taste: wow. very malty, deeply hoppy, sugary, not syrupy, crisp, heavy, molasses, smoke, strong. Palate: Of the highest visual and taste quality, rigid, sandy, rough, long bitter finish. Overall: An absolutely amazing DIPA, though not classified as such. I’d have it again no question. Perhaps one of my top ten. A favorite. Great value. High craft.

I love this brewery. What a hopslam in my olfactrory and taste sensations. I wish i could leave a lengthy "diatribe" here but all I could taste and smell were powerfully but superbly blended hops and roasty toast caramel , juicy with sugared fruit and candiesd raisins and malts to help me enjoy this bitteringly refreshing and palate shattering brew. A powerful brew, stronger than you would think and a warmning brandyish quality is also there. This beer evolves with every sip and takes my palate into different dimensions of experience...is there anything else you could ask???

This beer is phenomenal, plain and simple. Perfect cloudy color of amber and caramel with a ruby glow. Huge flavor of floral hops, alcohol, caramel malt, with a bitter-sweet, but smooth finish. Aroma matches much of the flavor with a bit of an earthy sweet smell. Sticky, full-bodied mouthfeel. Excellent.