Arrogant Bastard Ale by Stone Brewing Co. is being judged as an American Strong Ale (Category 22B) per the 2015 BJCP guidelines.

This beer pours a beautiful copper with clear clarity. A slightly off-white head of tiny bubbles forms and is sustained. As the beer is consumed, a beautiful lacing is left on the glass. A moderately low malt aroma is apparent and consists of a slightly overdone bread crust with a very low undertone of ripe dark cherry. Hop aroma is non-perceivable, which is strange for this particular style. There are very faint wisps of alcohol as the beer warms. Malt flavor consists of a medium-low intensity bread crust and caramel, very similar to a red ale with a medium-low malt sweetness. Both malt flavor and malt sweetness are very quickly replaced by a high bitterness which, after the swallow, quickly manifests into a lingering extremely high bitterness on the palate. Hop flavor appears to be lost behind the intensity of the hop bitterness. There is a low, clean ethyl alcohol note in the flavor. This beer finishes medium-dry with a lingering mix of malt sweetness, hop bitterness and alcohol. This beer has a medium-full body with medium carbonation as well as a moderate alcohol warmth. Despite the obviously high IBUs, there is no tannic notes in the mouthfeel. 

Overall, this is a world-class beer that consists of a battle between absurdly high lingering bitterness and malt trying to fight its way through. Despite its high IBUs, there are no off-putting tannic flavors. Though it would have been nice for more of a presence of hop flavor and aroma, I do not believe that is the intent of the brewers here, as what they are trying to showcase is relatively clean, but incredibly high, lingering bitterness. In today’s beer culture where beers have wanted to soften bitterness, this is a reminder to the beers of 20 years ago when I began drinking craft beer.