12 oz. Bottle
Big fan of Stone brewing, and I've been on a Stone kick, so why not one more.
Stone Oaked Arrogant Bastard pours a dark caramel with big dark red/burgundy notes to it and about an eighth of an inch of khaki head. Smells of caramel, oak/wood, and citrus (lemon, lime, and tangerine are the most prominent here) are the primary scents off the top, with a hoppy and slight vanilla background. On the taste, there are some nice citrus notes up front, and a good amount of hop on the back end. There's some really nice malt balance going on the background as well, but what really distracts me from all of this is a strong oak flavor that just pervades and dominates every other flavor from right when it hits the back of your mouth. All of the other flavors really just take a back seat to the wood aging, and not particularly in a positive way. It's way too distracting, and bordering on the taste of almost a Popsicle stick, and ruins any balance the beer might otherwise have had.
Moderately low carbonation. The oak hides the 7.2% ABV well (though that's not saying much, because the oak hides everything else as well).
I am a little disappointed in this one. I open every Stone beer with high expectations and am rarely let down (Enjoy By is one of my top rated IIPAs, Imperial Russian Stout is one of my top rated IRSs, and Old Guardian is a fantastic barley wine, just to name a few). This is one of those rare occasions. The oak aging process did this beer no favors, and I believe it actually detracted from the overall experience (I have the original a rated a full point higher than the Oaked version on Untappd).
I must admit, however, that this beer was a bit better on tap. My rating and review, though, are both for the bottled version.
Overall Rating: 2/5
Also, as I continued to drink it, the beer became slightly more enjoyable, but the oak/Popsicle stick taste still lingered and substantially distracted me from enjoying this beer.
Big fan of Stone brewing, and I've been on a Stone kick, so why not one more.
Stone Oaked Arrogant Bastard pours a dark caramel with big dark red/burgundy notes to it and about an eighth of an inch of khaki head. Smells of caramel, oak/wood, and citrus (lemon, lime, and tangerine are the most prominent here) are the primary scents off the top, with a hoppy and slight vanilla background. On the taste, there are some nice citrus notes up front, and a good amount of hop on the back end. There's some really nice malt balance going on the background as well, but what really distracts me from all of this is a strong oak flavor that just pervades and dominates every other flavor from right when it hits the back of your mouth. All of the other flavors really just take a back seat to the wood aging, and not particularly in a positive way. It's way too distracting, and bordering on the taste of almost a Popsicle stick, and ruins any balance the beer might otherwise have had.
Moderately low carbonation. The oak hides the 7.2% ABV well (though that's not saying much, because the oak hides everything else as well).
I am a little disappointed in this one. I open every Stone beer with high expectations and am rarely let down (Enjoy By is one of my top rated IIPAs, Imperial Russian Stout is one of my top rated IRSs, and Old Guardian is a fantastic barley wine, just to name a few). This is one of those rare occasions. The oak aging process did this beer no favors, and I believe it actually detracted from the overall experience (I have the original a rated a full point higher than the Oaked version on Untappd).
I must admit, however, that this beer was a bit better on tap. My rating and review, though, are both for the bottled version.
Overall Rating: 2/5
Also, as I continued to drink it, the beer became slightly more enjoyable, but the oak/Popsicle stick taste still lingered and substantially distracted me from enjoying this beer.
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