Oaked Arrogant Bastard Ale

~Pours a dark reddish amber with small off white head. ~Nice hoppy aroma, some oak. A bit lighter than I remmber from the non oaked Arrogant Bastard ~Bitter hoppy oaky taste. ~Chewy and sticky. Long bitter finish. ~Very yummy. Lots of flavor and scent.

Bottle-> Trappist: Pours a large, creamy, light brown head that exhibits good lacing atop of a murky, ruby body. The malt aroma is of nuts, cookie, and molasses; the hops are spruce, and there is a spruciness in the mix as well. The body is full, texture sticky, and the finish is bitter. Flavor’s duration is long and heavily bitter. A good beer, but it is quite heavy, so I’d prolly only drink a few a day.

Well I cracked this open and was suprised at how much hops I could smell. It has hops bitterness with a smooth sweetness. NIce eveness on the palate. I was surprised at how good this was.

Bottle: dark red color with a tan head. Hop aroma with slight carmel and molasses notes. This seemed close to the original ABA but smoother and just slightly sweeter. But, it still kept the nice and distinctive hop taste. Side note: Stone has really cool artwork and rants on their bottles.

I was pretty excited to find this beer. Pours a deep ruby with an off white head. Nose is caramel malt, hops, vanilla, wood. Taste: the hops fall back to a woody oak taste, sweet like bourbon. Sweetens as it warms, mouthfeel is good. Too much of the hops are lost, though. The original arrogant bastard is a better brew, but this isn’t horrible.

Pours a clearish ruby red with thinnish off white head.Roasty nose, bread crust, dark fruits, mild citrus, mild woodinerss. Flavor is nice ropasty richness, with just a touch of the barrel shining through. Hops balance the sweet malts well. Very smooth and drinkable.

12 oz. Bottle. Poured brown with amber hues. The head was small and tan which quickly diminished into a thin ring around the glass. Aroma is malty with hints of citrus, dark fruits, and caramel. The taste is of caramel malts, raisons, and a bit of light citrus. The finish has the hop bittering and the dryness from the oak. Ok.

The clear-as-water ruby/magenta body contrasts sharply with pistachio-tinged khaki foam. A resiny, spicy hop perfume erupts herbal and bittersweet, with unexpected train track or oil refinery aromatics, and camel pen at the zoo. Charred woody notes are already emerging, redolent with rum and smoke. And then… holy f**k… buttery oak competes with and utterly overwhelms and negates an elsewise masterfully malty brew. There exists some faint peachy/orangey hop character that finishes dirty, chalky, and acerbic. The disasterous aftertaste features the most complex, and most confused, characteristics of this beer: the overblown, raw oak assault of a bargain-bin California chardonnay; a humid heap of brown paper bags; the curry tang of hot metal shavings; the pondscum brown algae stench of wet dog and old celery; a medium bitterness with the acrid phenolic character of burning circuit boards; …and a suggestion of rose petals! The palate starts more “rich” than “thick”, but ends up very dry and alkaline. This hardly resembles, and is far, FAR inferior to “regular” Arrogant Bastard- the addition of oak nullifies rather than amplifies the beer’s assets- is this actually the same, unoaked and beloved AB underneath? Drinking this beer is as appealing as licking a well-used ashtray in a pay-by-the-hour motel room. OMFG, what a friggin’ train wreck!