Brewers Best California Imperial Pale Ale

Anyone ever make this one? I went to my LHBS looking for an India Pale Ale kit and they were out. The guy who I spoke with said that this is pretty much the same thing except for different hops.

So I did purchase it and looked online and it turns out this is supposed to be similiar to something called, "Arrogant Bastard". I have never heard of this before. Has Anyone here ever had it?

I have never made that kit before. However, Arrogant Bastard is tasty. It is produced by Stone Brewing Co. out of San Diego, or the surrounding area I think. I don't think you can buy it in six packs normally. Only comes in Deuces.

Talloak said:

I have never made that kit before. However, Arrogant Bastard is tasty. It is produced by Stone Brewing Co. out of San Diego, or the surrounding area I think. I don't think you can buy it in six packs normally. Only comes in Deuces.

Click to expand...

Is it similar to an IPA? LOL what is a Deuce.....I have never heard that before?

I believe he's referring to a 22oz bottle.

Is that kind of like a Bomber?

This was the first kit I brewed. I remember it being a big flavorful and quite bitter beer. I liked it quite a bit.

You can find out more about Arrogant Bastard here:

Arrogant Bastard Ale

Beer Advocate calls it an "American Strong Ale." Basically, it's stronger than an IPA (maltier mostly) but hoppier than a strong ale. It's a good beer. It doesn't really fit into any BJCP style though.

The Brewer's Best California Imperial pale kit is my recipe. It is designed to taste just like Arrogant Bastard. It is a good kit if you really like Chinook hops.

L.D. Carlson asked me to create a couple kits for them in the "Bold" series. The Russian Imperial Stout is mine as well. Let me know what you think.

Forrest

What's the recipe?

Ooh I love me some Arrogant Bastard! Along with DFH 90 Minute, it's what turned me on to craft beer. If the kit is anything like it, you shouldn't be dissapointed.

Austinhomebrew said:

The Brewer's Best California Imperial pale kit is my recipe. It is designed to taste just like Arrogant Bastard. It is a good kit if you really like Chinook hops.

L.D. Carlson asked me to create a couple kits for them in the "Bold" series. The Russian Imperial Stout is mine as well. Let me know what you think.

Forrest

Click to expand...

I sure will, thanks.

Bump.... just bought this kit on sale at the LHBS. Think Safale US-05 would be better than the included Nottingham? I have the Safale in my fridge...

If i remember correctly, this one has a full pound of crystal 120 in it, which is a bit much in my opinion. It tastes a bit too strongly of raisins, and it takes a bit of aging for the maltiness to meld and tone down. Still, good hop profile, and it turned out pretty good after aging.

Yep, a pound of crystal 120. Seems like this one would benefit from some aging though. I noticed that final ABV is rated about 6% (OG: 1.050-1.060). I'd really like to bump that up above 7% to truly represent the American Strong Ale style....

So, assuming 6.6 lbs of Amber LME and 2 lbs of Amber DME... what would you guys recommend to get the OG more or less in the 1.070 area? I'm thinking either picking up some more DME or just adding some corn sugar I have lying around.

I just brewed this 2 days ago. Looks great, smells curious. And by curious I mean it doesn't smell like Arrogant Bastard. This is only my second batch but I would think it would smell closer the final product. Does fermentation effect smell? Or is my beer screwed up? I'm assuming waiting is my best bet and not worrying right? No fermentation yet either.......

Wait a sec, Forrest, you designed the Brewers Best Russian Imperial Stout?! I could kiss you man! That was by far the best stout I have ever made. My girlfriend and I kicked a keg of it in a week and a half. I also gave some to my neighbor who came knocking back at my door the next day because he said he was having dreams about it and needed just more more pint to get his mind off it.

OK, so here's my story... I made this kit as-is and got an OG of 1.083.

After a whopping 62 days in primary (at only about 62°F) I bottled with an FG of 1.022.

That gave me an ABV of about 8%.... ooooooh yeah.

OK, so after 2 days you have a long way to go before it's anything like Arrogant Bastard - you need to let this one age. Like I said, I left this in primary for nearly 9 weeks. That's definitely not necessary, but worked fine for this style. The crazy thing is that I popped one after only a week in the bottle (70°F) and it was drinkably foamy.

I recommend leaving this one sit for a while, or at least racking to secondary - I know some people are against extended aging on the yeast cake but this one seemed to be just fine. Give me a couple weeks, I'll let you know.

I brewed this kit last Sunday. My OG came in at 1.071 (I added about half a gallon too much water in my primary. Oops!) and today its sitting at 1.015. About 7.3% ABV. I snuck a sample from primary today. If someone told me I was drinking flat, room temperature Arrogant Bastard, I'd believe it! Good stuff.

...now my girlfriend and I are headed to Escondido to celebrate valentine's day at the Stone Brewery!

This kit is really good. Mine was bottled 10/14/09 and it has always been a very good beer but has improved greatly with age and I will likely not go near my remaining bottles for quite some time. It may be worth using more hops than the recipe includes.

This is my first attempt at homebrew and I just bottled on Monday. My OG was only 1.065 as I think I added too much water in the primary. FG came out to 1.011. I sampled a bit and it was very bitter, but good. Didn't have any Arrogant Bastard on hand to compare it too but I hope it comes out similar. I fermented in the primary for 3 weeks and will try to hold off 2 weeks before sampling. Ok, maybe 1 week.

After a few weeks in the bottle, this one is AWESOME.

This kit absolutely kicks it. Arrogant Bastard is one of my favorites. Its more of a double pale ale than an IPA. It definitely has more malt to balance the hops. Tons of flavor, I've used this as somewhat of a model for my own "signature" brews.

I just sampled one after 10 days in the bottle and it was fantastic. Nicely carbonated even in that short period of time. I'm going to give them another week or two before I tear in to any more.

Glad to hear good reviews on this one. I'm a huge Arrogant Bastard fan and I ordered this kit in the hopes that it would be close. Planning on making it my second batch.

I kegged mine last week and carbonated at about 11 PSI for about 5 days. A few days ago, I bought a bottle of Arrogant Bastard and did the side by side test.

The clone was significantly lighter in color than the Arrogant Bastard. Did anyone else find this to be true?

I'd say the clone came out noticably more bitter too. I'm not complaining though

For the record... BBQ'd with a bunch of friends tonight and everyone LOVED it.

Austinhomebrew said:

The Brewer's Best California Imperial pale kit is my recipe. It is designed to taste just like Arrogant Bastard. It is a good kit if you really like Chinook hops.

L.D. Carlson asked me to create a couple kits for them in the "Bold" series. The Russian Imperial Stout is mine as well. Let me know what you think.

Forrest

Click to expand...

Sorry to drag this old comment through the thread, but I bought this kit last night and it comes with all Columbus hops. If it was designed with Chinook I will go pick that up and save the Columbus. (Or throw it all in? )

Also, I was considering dry hopping this. I am new and trying to follow rules, but the experimental side of me is creeping out. Any advice? I picked up an ounce of Cascade pellets with the kit.

I see brewers Best has "Imperial Pale Ale"....I dont see a "California Imperial Pale Ale".......is the Imperial Pale Ale what you guys are talking about?

SOunds like I should try this......they list it as 8% ABV on their site! Giddy up!

When I got it, it was California. They may have just changed the packaging/labels. It'll still be good though.

When I bought mine it was California Imperial Pale Ale and the description on the box said that this ale is "just a little bit arrogant" That should give it away.

Arrogant Bastard is brewed in Escondido in San Diego Co. by Stone Brewery. It comes in at 7.2 ABV. I get it at my local grocery store in 22oz. bottles. Have to say I always enjoy my Bastard at ever pour..Similiar to a IPA but as mention by someone earlier its a bit moore malty but not to much to mask the hops. All in all would say try it if you have a chance.

I'm about to bottle this same kit. I added 2.2lbs of LME and dry hopped w/ 2oz of colombus for about 2 weeks in the secondary. I'll let you guys know how it comes out!

I brewed this about a month ago and just kegged it....after a couple days carbing, it taste amazing! This is definitely going to become a regular beer on tap in my house.

Anyone got an All-grain recipe for it? I just made the switch, but I may just brew this extract regularly if I cant find a similar all-grain brew.

Mine came out great!

I've got some in the fermenter, and it's going into the keg today. Tasted it after a week and I was a bit worried about how hoppy it was. Now at 3 weeks on the cake it's really coming into it's own. I haven't had arrogant bastard but I know it's a strong IPA. Just as an FYI, I missed the OG by about 3pts on the low side and it finished 1 pt low, not something I was overly worried about, probably a bit off on my water measurement.

Can't wait for it to carb up!

You're gonna love it. I added 2.2lbs of lme to mine, then threw 2oz of colombus in the secondary, left it in there for a few weeks then bottled it up. Pretty damn good beer dude.


Edit: I realized I wrote the same thing a few posts up. Ha.

mgortel said:

I see brewers Best has "Imperial Pale Ale"....I dont see a "California Imperial Pale Ale".......is the Imperial Pale Ale what you guys are talking about?

SOunds like I should try this......they list it as 8% ABV on their site! Giddy up!

Click to expand...

Assuming we are talking about the BB Imperial Pale Ale, I brewed up a batch a couple Saturdays ago and man did it ferment!

Lag time was about 10 hours and produced a 3-inch krausen within 2 days. I had it in a carbouy and it was so turbulent it looked like it was boiling! Settled down on day 5 and was already within the specified FG range so I tasted it and decided to transfer to secondary and dry hop it for a nice dose of aroma.

Pretty much followed the recipe on this one except for the following:
- 5-gallon boil (4-gallon steep of specialty grains for 30 min plus a 1-gallon "sparge" of grain bag – slowly poured hot water over grain bag to extract as much of the sugars as possible.
- rehydrated the Safale US-05 in one cup 95-degree water for 20 minutes prior to pitching.
- dry-hopped with 2oz Citra

- OG 1.086
- Day 5 gravity 1.015
- Approx ABV 9.3%

Can't wait to taste this one!

mine will not carb. i know the comments were old, but its funny people had foam after just a week or two. mine is almost 4 weeks and no bubbles what so ever. it also tastes really sweet. fg was 1018.

Austinhomebrew said:

The Brewer's Best California Imperial pale kit is my recipe. It is designed to taste just like Arrogant Bastard. It is a good kit if you really like Chinook hops.

L.D. Carlson asked me to create a couple kits for them in the "Bold" series. The Russian Imperial Stout is mine as well. Let me know what you think.

Forrest

Click to expand...

LMAO,

I started the California last week and the Russian is just about at the two week mark in fermentation. You meet the dangdest people on here!

BTW, The Russian was a violent fermenter that blew my bucket lid off. The hops plugged my airlock. When I put the California on I used a blow-off tube into a 1/2 gallon growler and was very glad that I did. The tube is laced with krausen and the growler looks like it is full of beer.

I did not check the post dates...