Stone put out this video today pretty much stating that they are open to potentially opening a brewery in Europe. Pretty interesting stuff if they actually find the right offer and go forward with it.
Name – Stone Double Bastard Ale
Country – United States
Type – American Strong Ale
Appearance – Pours a clear deep red color with a good sized slightly tan head. It leaves a good amount of lacing.
Smell – Big floral hop smell with some caramel like malts. You get a big boozy smell.
Taste – A big hop taste up front but it quickly transitions to a boozy vanilla like taste. Some hints of oak. Makes it finish chewy.
While this is suppose to look like a bigger version of Arrogant Bastard I think the name and a little bit of the hop smell is where that stops. It is definitely big. The alcohol burn makes this one a sipper and definitely could see it mellowing out well with age. While I did enjoy it I think if you put it down for a year or so would really make this a wonderful brew. Think I’ll have to go grab another bottle.
Overall Grade – B-
Name – Very Bad Elf
Country – England
Type – English Pale Ale
Appearance – Poured a very clear amber/copper color with a big bubbly white head that disappeared very quickly but did leave lacing on the glass.
Smell – Bread like malts along with some spices.
Taste – Sweet caramel and bready malts with some holiday spices like nutmeg.
I recently wrote about the Ridgeway Christmas beers in my gift ideas post. This is the English Pale Ale version of one very bad elf that dons many of the bottles. It is pretty straight forward in terms of and English Pale Ale with some spices added to it for a warming effect that just goes with the season. If you haven’t tried one of the Ridgeway beers yet I must say to do so just for the pure fun of the names and because it’s the holidays.
Overall Grade – C+
