Double Bastard Ale

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

On tap as Turbo Bastard at the 10th Annual San Diego Strong Ale Festival: Pours an effervescent bright copper with a large, dense frothy tan head that coats the glass with lacing as it subsides. Has a floral buttery popcorn and grapefruity hoppy aroma. Body starts full and lightly sweet with a huge bitter hoppy bite with some floral, soapy grapefruit flavor. This has a strange hop character and some off-flavors that I’m not too fond of.
Earlier Rating: 3/18/2003 Total Score: 4.2
2002 bottle rated on 8/25/05: The aroma seems to have picked up some more dark fruity complexity as a result of the age and lost some of its hoppiness. Lots of sweet dark caramel is also noticeable. The body is still full and malty with the hoppy bitterness still quite strong, especially toward the sticky, dry finish. I think this stuff would probably age well for a very long time.

2004 Bottle rated on 5/9/05: Has a very rich, malty, caramel, butterscotch aroma well balanced with fresh piney hops. NIce viscous sweetness throughout with a powerful bitter balance. Quite enjoyable. This might be my favorite vintage to date.

2003 Bottle rated on 6/24/2004: Very bitter, yet sweet and somehow balanced. Goes down refreshingly complex. A sure bastard of a beer that I can’t help but try and try over again. Thanks TChrome!

Rerate of 2002 on 4/3/2004: Pours a murky dark brown with a thick cream-colored head. Strong powerful aroma of pungent hops and thick caramel malt. The aroma smacked me around and took some getting used to but kinda grew on me. Nice, thick sweet body with good complexity, very reminiscent of a barleywine. Even after aging for over a year, this is still a bit over the top and could use some more balance to make it smoother. Overall a nice bastard of a brew.

2002 bottle rated on 3/18/2003: Sweet caramel aroma with some alcoholic notes. Smooth caramely butterscotch flavor with a medium bitter finish and a definite warming effect. Relatively complex and very reminiscent of the arrogant bastard. A decent brew, but I was expecting a little more.

red-amber colour, few foam, buttery hoppiness, caramel and alcohol, notes of cream and apricot, oily with a deadly excessiv bitterness (yes, I like it !), very malty, very long bitter, buttery and floral finish, a bit disgusting at the end of the glasss - this is big stuff ! Those americans are really crazy (fortunately sometimes in a right way)

First of all, i'm really sorry to Greg for not liking this beer. Super sticky and syruppy. Some vanilla, with a heavy grapefruit and pine flavour. This beer is a challenge if their ever was one, especially for a "wussie" like me. A bit too in your face and unbalanced. Once again, really sorry i didn't like this, but thanks to greg from Stone for letting us have a shot at it.

Good, but rapidly vanishing crème-amber head; very dark red-chestnut colour. Great hopskick at the same time a sweetish, grapey, even raisiny aroma, might be restsugars, but I bet it are both malts (toffee-ish) and hops. My co-taster complains of too much bitterness. I don’t - I LOVE this grapey-hoppy taste. Superb, and what balance! Oily, full-bodied, slick, nearly viscous. Maybe being weaned on trappist ales made me worthy? I don’t know, but to a natural hophead, this kind of Californian hopmonsters are great - in this case a great renewed acquaintance. Big thanks to FilipG.

Rating # 2100. Deep amber reddish colour with a small off white head. Sweet malty aroma with alight alcohol note and a faint hoppyness. Smooth wellbalanced malty sweet flavor with a low key hoppy finish. Thanx to Luke for bringing this one to Denmark.

Bottled: Amber coloured. Brown dense head. Lasting. Hops, malt, alcahol, cocoa, chocolate in the nose. Lots of hops, sweetness, alcahol and fruits in the flavour. This is a carpetbombing of the palate with bitterness. Man, its fun. In danish I would say: "Denne øl holder for vildt". Thanks to Raindog for trading another great brew.

Reddish brown coloured. Very malty and very hoppy. Loads of bitterness. Very powerful. A great brew.

Bottle, 22oz. A reddish golden beer with a slight haze. Dense, beige head of low height. Quite intense aroma with lots of sweetish maltyness, beefstock, caramel, piney and resiny hops, and some alcohol. Maybe a bit too sweet on the palate, with a lasting alcohol warmth, but there’s enough hops to justice it. Piney, resiny bitterness with a citrusy touch. Sweet and bitter finish. A big, bold beer, but very satisfying. (080811)