"San Diego's Stone Brewing has a vintage, barrel-aged drink it calls Oaked Arrogant Bastard Ale that costs $65 in stores and $100 or more on bar and restaurant "beer menus." (Take heart: It comes in three-liter bottles.) And the maker of Samuel Adams beers now has an aged brew that costs $100 a bottle, wholesale."
Wow! Here's the rest of it -
Drink and be merry.
Ridiculous. I can get good wood cask conditioned brew on tap for 4$/pint.
I got to try the Oaked Bastard a couple weeks ago at a firkin fest I went to. It was very good, the oak wasn't as overpowering as in some of the barrel aged beers I've had in the past. A friend of mine splurged on one of the 3 L bottles but we have yet to have an occasion to open it. The Oaked Bastard is no more expensive than any of Stone's other 3L offerings except for the fact that AFAIK it was only available in the
3L whereas you can find their other beers in bombers.mike
The Oaked Arrogant Bastard was a perfect example of how doing the trendy thing in brewing can crap all over a good beer. Basically, all the things I really like about the beer were replaced with a rather bland woodiness. Big hops? Nope. Big malts? Nope. Oak? Yep. Thought it just was not that good. That being said, I tend to think barrel-aging is asinine and far more often than not ruins a beer.
Don't even get me started on the liquid abortion known as Allagash Curieux . . .
But it got 13 stars at
Yeah, I didn't much care for Curieux-- not enough beer to stand up to the harsh phenolic smoke.
snipped-for-privacy@see.headers (Joel) wrote in news:d3e0uq$ufr$1 @badger.ncsa.uiuc.edu:
There are certain beer styles that barrel-aging makes sense for. Imperial stout? Yeah, they're overdone, but blending big roasty flavors with woodiness at least seems vaguely logical. The Curieux, though--who the hell sat up and said, "Hmm, a nice spicy, yeasty tripel. Let's stick it in a barrel!" A barrel-aged tripel? Makes no sense to me.
My overt hostility to it might have something to do with the fact that Allagash Tripel is one of my favorite beers and is, IMO, the best tripel on the planet. Seeing it treated so harshly was like someone smacking one of my children around.
"Dan Iwerks" schreef in bericht news:Xns963571D50A11Edaniwerksatyahoo@216.168.3.30...
No? I thought that was what Cuvée de Tomme is all about. Mother of All Beers is a tripel, I'm told? Joris
Dunno but I had a small sampling of it at the 2002 GABF and while I'll admit it was one of the infamous 1oz pours, and I might've missed something, I didn't get any oak. Now, its supposedly aged in oak, but I think its clean oak (not Jim Beam barrels ala Allagash) and it must have a pretty mild effect. I got lots of sweet fruit and alcohol listed in my notes for it.
I don't know that its really a tripel though either (defining tripel as that kind of tripel brewed by Westmalle that is widely copied).
Its made with brett, sour cherries, lots of other junk apparently (including the oak effects), and a Belgian yeast.
Would that Firkin Fest have been at the Grey lodge by any chance?
nope, althugh I have heard many good things about the Grey lodge friday the firkinteenths I live on the opposite coast and have not been able to attend one as of yet.
This one was held at the Triple Rock brewpub in Berkeley, CA. It was quite a fest though; 30 or so firkins, all you can taste for $20 and damn good hamburgers as well.
mike
Berkley's nice. I miss traveling to that part of the US. Always had to stop for breakfast at Rick and Anne's (Across from the Claremont). I was not really into beers like I am now and I missed an opportunity to sample a lot of good beers when I was on the road.
I have an ABA sitting (empty) on my shelf, but I'll take it without the aging and price tag, at that level. 3L is a bit much.
Have something to add? Share your thoughts — no account required.
Ask the community — no account required