The God of Awesomeness Has Smiled Upon Me!

Ok, maybe I overstated the thread title a bit, but I was just at my favorite beer-buying joint (Party Source in KY) contemplating what brews to get. I'm having some friends that are new Cincinnati transplants over tomorrow for some pork chops, corn on the cob, apple pie, beer, etc.........so I thought I should get two different styles in case someone doesn't like pale ales (losers), or whatever I happened to pick.

So I decided to get a Stone Breweries beer because I had their pale ale a few weeks ago and decided it might be the most awesomest traditional pale ale I've ever tasted. They had 4 choices that I saw: Arrogant Bastard Ale, Oaked Arrogant Bastard Ale, Pale Ale, and Ruination IPA. I actually wanted to get either the oaked ale or the IPA, but I wasn't quite willing to spend $16 for a six pack of beer, so I wussed out and got the traditional pale ale again. If anybody cares, the other beer I got was Christian Moerlein's Original Golden Helles.

I just got home and I was gonna crack open one of the pale ales, when what do I find? Somebody had slipped a single Oaked Arrogant Bastard Ale into the six pack! I've never had this beer before, but it was near the top of my "wanted" list. I want to wait 'til SWMBO gets home from work to drink it because I'm sure she'd like to taste it, but my question is this: How excited should I be to drink this beer? On a scale of 1 to 10, how is it?

Ah, but karma dictates you taked the Oaked Bastard back and get the bottle of pale that you paid for. Someone swapped it for you.

I love the party source. I picked up a few while in town for NHC.

Go back to the biggest beer and liquor store in the area the day before the fourth of July to give them a beer back that they mistakenly sold me? You must be crazy, EdWort.

The experience has no net karmic value because they did in fact give me a beer I didn't request. I just happen to be mad crazy stoked about it! I win!

Ed, maybe adrock already had some good karma going for him and it evened out when he was rewarded by receiving the OAB by accident?

You are going to love the Oaked AB. Get ready for some intense flavor.

I gotta tell you.........underwhelmed by the Oaked Arrogant Bastard Ale. It was a good beer and all, so I don't know what the problem is, but I'll guess it came down to 1 of 2 things. Either:

1. The anticipation I built up for this beer was too great. It couldn't have possibly lived up to expectations. OR
2. It tasted rather similar to a homebrew I made not too long ago (and that homebrew didn't cost $3 a bottle)

As I said though, I thought it was a good beer with some intense flavor, though I didn't taste any oak at all.

Maybe somebody accidentally slipped regular Arrogant Bastard into the OAB, therefore completing the karmic circle of life.

I'll have to try slipping an expensive single into a less expensive 6'er. That way when I get to the counter I can claim I didnt' notice it...

Homercidal said:

I'll have to try slipping an expensive single into a less expensive 6'er. That way when I get to the counter I can claim I didnt' notice it...

Click to expand...

That's why my local grocery store keeps Dogfish 120 under lock & key.

Just made another trip to the Party Source, and while there I made up my mind to try a few of the brews regularly raved about here. The mixed 6'er is as follows:

Stone IPA
Stone Ruination IPA
Dogfish Head 90 min. IPA
Sierra Nevada Bigfoot (2008)
Bell's Porter (never heard anyone talk about it, but it sounded good)
Shiner Helles (for SWMBO)

I just got home and decided to crush my palate, so I cracked open the Ruination IPA. I haven't traditionally been a big IPA drinker, so I was skeptical. Of course since I've started brewing I've fallen more and more in love with the aroma of hops, so it was time to try it. This might be the most delicious damned beer I've ever had! Of course now I won't be able to appreciate any of the beers at the bar tonight (Live Trivia Night). I might just get some PBR's and hope the hop taste lasts long enough to make it taste good.

Any insight as to how much I may love (or hate) the other 5? I've heard that the DFH 90 min. may be even better than Ruination. If that's the case I'll be towelling off my wedding tackle!

I've never had the last 2, but the first four are solid, each in their own special way.

(The following part came out sounding a bit harsh, but I didn't mean it like that)
Out of curiosity, between the first post in this thread and your most recent one, why are you so interested in others' opinions before you even try the beer? If 50 people say it's the greatest beer in the world, then you've raised the bar even before trying it. Only you can make up your mind as to what you like, so it's best to go into it with as open a mind as possible. Just my $0.02 ....

But since you asked, if you liked Ruination, then you should also like DFH90, and the Stone IPA should seem like a session beer at that point.

To be honest Dave, I'm not that interested in others' opinions because it will help me form my own; I'm interested 'cause I want to have a discussion about beers with my buddies on my favorite forum! Thanks for the disclaimer though..........and thanks additionally for the avatar. I have a buddy that has a shirt with that printed on it, which is great because he looks a bit like Ronald McDonald.