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