Arrogant Baladin In Bocca Al Lupo
Stone Brewing

 

 

 

Brewed March ‘17, cellared June ‘17, and enjoyed November ‘19. Poured from the 1.5L bottle into a Lost Abbey tulip. A fantastic beer, well worth the long wait from ordering it (in ‘14?), through to aging it properly. A gorgeous copper color with a nice effervescent head. Nose is classic Bastard/American Strong, bready, yeasty, a little subtle spice. Taste is spectacular, rather like a refined version of Double Bastard, which is the Platonic ideal of American Strong Ales for me. Layers of bready malts, herbal tang from the gentian, dark fruit, pepper and brown sugar. Feel is exactly as it should be. Definitely the best of the Berlin Collaborations I’ve had - some of the others were a little disappointing, this one is spot on.

 

 

Arrogant Baladin has a thick, creamy, ivory head, a sediment-filled, bubbly amber appearance, with moderate glass lacing. The aroma is of sharp, sweet brown bread crust and spice, and the flavor is similar, with some bitterness. Mouthfeel is medium, and Arrogant Baladin finishes medium dry.

RJT

 

 

L - Opaque, copper amber/brown with hints of red hues, with a medium tan head that sticks around and leaves a small amount of lacing behind.
S - bitter, resiny hops, rich malt, bready yeast, sweet esters, caramel
T - Complex: Bitter hops and malt up intermixed with the rich bready yeast, along with notes of dark fruit, caramel, vanilla, biscuit, and earth.
F - medium, leaning more towards full bodied, light to moderate carbonation. Incredibly soft and smooth.
O - This is absolutely fantastic. To me this is the Arrogant Bastard reaching it's pinnacle. To me it's somewhere in between the flavor profile of arrogant bastard and double bastard, but takes the best of both worlds and somehow smooths out the flavor profile of each. The original Arrogant Bastard and Double Bastard have always had a harsh flavor profile in my opinion - meant in the best way possible - while this version really softens things. At first, I thought this beer had less character than its American counterparts, but I couldn't have been more wrong, this is more of a complete beer - truly outstanding.