Stone Oaked Arrogant Bastard

More Bicycling Fun In The Mountains

This coming weekend I head up to Tellico Plains, TN to ride the Cherohala Challenge, a 115 mile ride through the mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina.  It’s going to be  a very challenging and tough ride, there’s a ton of climbing and the temperatures are supposed to be in the 90’s.  I figured I could help myself get in the right mood by drinking a beer.

Arrogant Bastard Time

The perfect beer for this is another version of Stone Brewing’s Arrogant Bastard Ale and that is the oaked version.  Oaked Arrogant Bastard Ale is the same as the regular Arrogant Bastard but aged over oak chips.  I was interested to see what the differences were between the two beers:

Appearance- The beer pours the same dark reddish amber color and has a fairly creamy light brown head.  My beer was a little hazy.  Lacing is a bit better than the unoaked version.

Smell- Where the unoaked version was light on hops, Oaked Arrogant Bastard was very hop forward.  There was some dark fruit and a hint of vanilla and malt sweetness as well.

Taste- The taste was almost like an IPA with a ton of hops  There is a bit of malt sweetness along with some chocolate and dark fruits such as plum, cherry, and fig.  The aftertaste was extremely hoppy and a bit bitter, once again like an IPA.

Drinkability- This is a fairly drinkable beer but not what I expected.  The beer drinks like a strong IPA instead of a regular strong ale.  The big downside is the hop bite at the end which is a bit harsh and bitter.  It’s not a bad beer but just different than I expected.

Stone Oaked Arrogant Bastard is a good beer but I liked the unoaked version a bit more.  There was a lot of hops in the aroma and taste which was fine, but different than I was expecting after the regular Arrogant Bastard.  I guess I was expecting the same basic flavor profile but with a bit of oak flavor.  Instead, the beer was fairly hoppy.  I like hops, a lot, so the taste was fine. I just had some expectations that weren’t met by the beer.  I liked the beer a lot overall and will definitely be drinking it again.  I gave it the same overall score as the unoaked version.  It’s well worth drinking.  Get some and try it for yourself.

1. Appearance- 7 points (out of 10)
2. Smell- 7 points (out of 10)
3. Taste- 16 points (out of 20)
4. Drinkability- 6 points (out of 10)

Total 36 (out of 50) Points- 3 Mugs