Saturday, September 20, 2008
Nothing like a few cheap, frosty (or luke-warm) beverages while videogame Rocking.
Friday, September 19, 2008
I haven't yet picked up anything special, so Tonight on the menu is a little Soundgarden, System of a Down, Coors and good ol' Bud Light. Expect some pictures later on.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Thursday, August 28, 2008
"Stone Smoked Porter is dark, rich and complicated. A porter is substantially darker than a pale ale, but not as black or opaque as a stout. Our Stone Smoked Porter has a captivatingly deep mahogany color, complimented by a silky, dark tan head. Rich, full-bodied and robust, it is also smooth, with chocolate and coffee-like flavors balanced by the subtle “smoky” character of just the right amount of peat-smoked specialty malt. Terrific with meats and desserts!"
Style / ABV – American Porter / 5.90% ABV
Serving Type – Guinness Pint Glass
Appearance – A dark smooth pour into the glass with a nice light tan colored head. Dark-brown almost coffee black in color.
Smell – Smoky, chocolate smell, with a hint of hops.
Taste – Strong smoky, chocolate, coffee, and roasted barley notes come through. It went down very smooth and isn’t too bitter, but just enough bitters. I would say this is as close to a porter being a stout as you can get, I’ve always been a fan of stouts and if I wouldn’t have known before-hand I would have thought it was a stout. I started out drinking dark beer with the most famous of dark beers, Guinness, and that has led me to thinking the darker the better.
Mouthfeel – A pretty thick feeling on the tounge, with just enough carbonation, but not too much, just how I like it.
Drinkability – This is a fantastic beer. I went through the large bottle in about a half an hour, and could have sat through another 2. Sure I’d be a tad wasted, but I’d be a happy man.
So far on this latest beer-trip I’m 2 for 2 on great beers. The Stone Smoked Porter also now sits somewhere in my top 10 favorite beers. One of these days I’ll actually get around to putting up an official countdown.
Grade – A –
Boxman Reviewed on 8/28/08
Friday, August 22, 2008
A Review by: Boxman
I went to my local BevMo! Here in lovely Burbank, California, a great beverage establishment, where I grab mostly all of my alcoholic beverages. I try to make a visit at least every other week, and I try to get something different every time. One of my new favorite “non-major” beer brands is The Stone Brewing Company, and their line of Arrogant Bastard Ale is quickly becoming a new staple in my list of regular pick-ups. So this past week I stopped in and this little six-pack caught my eye. “Oaked Beer?” I thought, what the hell is that all about? So as I usually do, try something different and these are the results.
So after a long week on the 3am to 11am shift of work (don't ask) I popped off the cap, poured myself a glass, turned on the good ol' XBox 360 with some Madden '09, and got sippin.
First here’s some background on the “Oaked” straight from the Arrogant Bastard Website
“To celebrate the first anniversary of Arrogant Bastard Ale in 1998, we unleashed its big angry brother, Double Bastard Ale. Every November since then, the Double Bastard has been released in limited quantities. In 2004 Arrogant Bastard Ale and Double Bastard Ale got a third cohort when we released OAKED Arrogant Bastard Ale in 3 Litre bottles. 2006 marked the third year of OAKED Arrogant Bastard Ale, and a surprise - we crammed, forced, shoved and cajoled the OAKED Arrogant Bastard Ale into itty bitty tiny little 12oz bottles. It did not go willingly. Some Stone peeps got hurt. More emotionally, than physically, but it was definitely both. Well, here we are on our fourth year and we’ve got one more surprise... You’ll be able to get OAKED Arrogant Bastard Ale in sixpacks year ’round starting on August 20th, 2007!
Style / ABV – American Strong Ale / 7.20% ABV
Serving Type – Pint Glass
Appearance – A smooth pour into the glass with a sandy colored head. Reddish-brown in color.
Smell – Smoky, hoppy, citrusy, a bit of caramel.
Taste – Strong smoky wood, and citrus notes come through and a hoppy aftertaste. The taste is very strong and you get a very overwhelming heap of flavor with every taste. This is something I really like in a beer as you can really taste all of the flavor in one sip and it sticks with you. I noted that I did taste the alcohol in it but it is well covered by the flavor of the beer.
Mouthfeel – It feels a little thick on the palate, with the perfect amount of carbonation and went down pretty smooth.
Drinkability – This was a great tasting beer, but I’m not sure if I’d be able to drink more than 2-3 in one sitting, I think the taste is overwhelming (in a good sense) so it would be hard to handle as a “game playing beer”.
Overall a great beer to drink, it has definitely hit my top 10 list of current favorites. This would be my first beer aged in a Oak barrel and I was pleasantly surprised with a good result. I will definitely be picking this one up again.
Grade – A –
Boxman Reviewed on 8/22/08