BrewDog Stone Bashah

Brewed by BrewDog
Style: American Strong Ale
Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, Scotland

Bottle shared by shawnm213- thanks, Shawn! Pours an opaque near-black color with a small tan head. Aroma of hops, citrus, dark fruit, molasses, resin, pine, roasted malt. The flavor has an odd medicinal note in addition to citrus, hops, resin, malt, molasses, chocolate, and roast. The alcohol is masked from start to finish. Interesting, but strange. Medium-full bodied, smooth and rich. Sweet, roasty, dry finish.

Pours pitch black and completely opaque with only the slightest of mahogany edges and a one finger foamy beige head that slowly fades into a lasting ring. Earthy dry pine hop aroma with some sweet citrus notes and a healthy dose of roasted malt. Hints of grapefruit as well as lemon and orange peel along with some toasted nutty chocolate malt. Very subtle estery dark fruit notes but the aroma here is dominated by earthy pine and floral citrus hop notes with a decent amount of dark roasted malt. Chewy full body that is pleasantly hop forward with some slight bitterness and dry pine earthy hops which are quickly balanced by a slightly viscous roasted chocolate malt flavor. Hints of roasted coffee, toffee, and estery dark fruit notes, mostly raisin and plum. Complex and well balanced with some grapefruit and lemon peel citrus notes that compliment the dry earthy bitterness. ABV very well masked making this unique beer very quaffable. The bitternes, sweet citrus notes and dry pine characteristics of the hops linger over the strong malt backbone into a lasting dry finish. Very nice!

Big hop aroma, flavor is complex hops, chocolate,roasted malt, pine, very smooth ver tasty. A fantastic blend of styles.

Bottle from Sam’s. Pours pretty much black with attractive light mocha/gray that unfortunately disappears quickly. Nose is lots of pine/juniper/spruce, but also some roasted malt (burnt toast), bitter chocolate and maybe some coffee underneath it all. The latter flavors come out more on the taste, but this is still mainly about skunky/piney hops. Some raisin notes as well on the mid-palate, a bitter finish, and then some raisins again lingering on the back of the tongue. Weird but solid. Worth trying, though a bit pricey.

Bottle from EZ. Pours out a dark brown color with a light off white head. Aroma is of citrus hops, chocolate, and an earthy beef jerky note. Taste is complex with a smooth mouthfeel. Notes of citrus and light pine hops, chocolate, roasted malt, smoke, and some other lingering earthy notes. Definitely an interesting effort.

Pours a dark black with some light and a thin one finger light tan head. Low carbonation on opening and pouring. Nose has a mild hop profile initially but this quickly fades, lots of chocolate, mild coffee, acetaldehyde. Flavor shows mild roast, peanut shell, bitter chocolate, mothballs, mild citrus rind bitterness. As with most things from BrewDog this bastardized ale stumbled around the room touching on a couple of styles without being any distinguishable one and ends up passing out in the corner disappointing everyone who partook.

On tap at Capones. Poured a deeper brown color with a smaller sized off white head. Aromas of licorice, roast, chocolate, woodiness, earthy, and some citrus. Tastes of earthiness, chocolate, citrus, roast earthy, some nuttiness, and some brown sugar. Lacking left on the glass.

Good, solid, ale with the operative word being good. I wasn’t disappointed, but Brewdog has better, more memorable selctions.