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Tuesday, February 21, 2012

2008 Stone Double Bastard

Good example of the color
8oz pour in a small goblet at Flying Saucer Houston. I spotted it on the menu and looked at it several times before I noticed it was an 08. Being a fan of this beer with some age on it I couldn't pass it up for the price.

Appearance: Hazier then I would have guessed it to be.  Rusty orange in color with a thin tan head. The lighting could be better for a through evaluation.

Aroma: You'd never guess that this is a hoppy beer when fresh as it is devoid of hop aroma. Very malty on the noise. Slight caramel and the smell when hops have died. When it warms I get an almost fig-like aroma. The strong malt aroma also fades well. English breakfast tea?

Mouthfeel:  Heavy bodied with medium carbonation that is allowed to occur due to it being aged in a keg vs bottle. I guess what I'm saying is I doubt a 4 year old beer from a bottle would retain this level of carbonation.  It was served too cold for a beer like this. I need to hold off till it warms.

Taste: The booziness this beer has when young is gone. It's replaced by a very rich beer. Caramel and dark toffee.  Prunes and figs.  The booze is detectable if I let the beer sit in my mouth for an extended period of time. I want to say it comes off oxidized but given the format it's clearly something else. While the hop aroma is gone the bitterness remains somewhat intact.

Overall: If the taste matched the aroma I would be more happy with it. Still a great beer to have gotten to try and proof of the power aging can have on a beer. It definitely opened up as I let it warm. Great beer for 5 bucks.

Cheers

-SNB

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