Did you ever notice that Americans are extremists? Nothing is done right if it isn’t done at full speed with a healthy dose of violence thrown in for good measure. The best example of this that I can think of is the National Football League. The NFL is the single most popular sport in America. Every play there are three 
hundred pound men that can move quick as a cat crashing into each other and trying to separate other large and quick men from the object they are carrying around.
We can’t get enough of it. Otherwise normal everyday folks dress up in costume and transform into rabid, chest pounding, vitriol spewing legions that inhabit places like the Dog Pound or the Black Hole. They brave searing heat and bitter cold, rain, snow and howling winds, all so that they can be part of something bigger than themselves. This is America at its most flamboyant, extremist self and we love every minute of it.
In case people missed it when watching the replay of Eli Manning’s escape and subsequent circus like catch by David Tyree in Super Bowl XLII for the 338th time (I can revel in that particular moment of glory forever it seems, what can I say, I’ve got issues), we like our beer the same way. Ever since the microbrew revolution hit this country back in the 1980’s we have slowly but surely been ratcheting up our beers in a manner similar to the way we like everything else. Full speed and with just a touch of violence.
We’ve even given a name to the extremists that have encouraged this beer direction. They are called hop heads. At first, they were the folks that gravitated towards the English India Pale Ales (IPA). A bit fuller bodied and slightly more bitter than a traditional ale, this separated them from the pack drinking American pilsners and lagers. As American brewers caught on to this trend, a new style of beer developed, the American IPA. More bitter than their traditional IPA counterparts, they also have a stronger malt backbone to balance this often bright or citrus character imparted by the American hops.
But that wasn’t enough for the hop heads. No, they just had to have more. “Bigger, bolder, more bitter, more hops, we want more hops!” they cried. And the breweries responded. The Frankenstein like beast that emerged from their laboratories is what is called the American Strong Ale. American Strong Ales can be best described as robust with a high alcohol content and a blast of hops unmistakable for anything else. They are clearly an American invention and display that character of speed and violence which is so much a part of the American psyche.
Stone Brewing Co. of Escondido CA has certainly clued in to what the hop heads want. For a while now, they’ve been producing an American Strong Ale called Arrogant Bastard which was very well received. Now, they’ve released what they call their Double Bastard. Your experience with this beer starts with the bottle that has a creepy demon on the front and a diatribe as to how not worthy of this beer you are on the back.
This is an American Strong Ale that comes in at 10.5% alcohol by volume. The beer itself is a dark reddish mahogany color with a nice light tan lace. It has a slightly thick syrupy appearance with bubbles of carbonation that only appear near the top of the glass. You know you are in for something special just by the aroma as you can smell citrus and spice and oh yes, the alcohol too. On the palate, the carbonation offsets the what you’d think would be a thick syrupy liquid very nicely. The malt is pronounced but it is quickly subsumed by the hops that dominate this beer. Beautiful hops flavor that doesn’t present a bitter finish but one that stays around for enjoyment for quite some time. This is a beer clearly worth the title strong ale, one that totally captures the American spirit.
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