PDubyah: Beer - #280 - Stone - Sublimely Self Righteous Ale

Thursday, January 9, 2014

Beer - #280 - Stone - Sublimely Self Righteous Ale

I pushed the boat out with a Stone Sublimely Self Righteous Ale

Brewed by Stone Brewing Co. brewed in the style of a Black IPA, and you'll find them in Escondido, California USA

This is the usual 20fl oz, 1Pt 6oz bottle, (thats 650ml), of an 8.7% ABV, 261 calories a serving, and 90 IBU things, which all in all a 4.45 standad drink's worth of beer. 90 IBU is right in the muffle of a D/IPA style beer

We re brewers whose substantial mettle and idiomatic approach to brewing allows us to consistently create works of art such as this justifiably self righteous ale. Its bitterness hits our sweet spot. Its blackness lightens our hearts. Its liquid dichotomy pulls it all together in this sublimely sacrosanct ale. Yes, we damn well know our stuff here at Stone, and it would be irresponsible of us not to acknowledge how remarkable this heavenly creation of ours is. Thus the name we are compelled to give it ... Stone Sublimely Self Righteous Ale ... serves as a reminder of just how good we are, in both liquid and verbal form. We re certainly not perfect. Too often, we allow our modesty to get the best of us as we re simply not inclined towards senseless braggadocio. When youre good, youre good. And when you do something great, the least you can do is acknowledge it. Others benefit from knowing. In this case, we find that we are compelled to point out how amazing this beer is that we rightly call the Stone Sublimely Self Righteous Ale. First brewed in 2007 as Stone 11th Anniversary Ale, this beer was an instant hit. With us. Other folks with great taste loved it too, but we were focused on how much we liked it, and we felt it was truly sublime. That euphoria didnt last long though, as it was soon replaced with the grim reality that when we sold out of it there wouldnt be any more. For Us. And that was simply unacceptable. So, we are now blessing ourselves, and you the enlightened, with this beer on a full time basis.. Thusly, you may now revel in your own self righteousness as you see fit with this glorious example of ours. You are genuinely welcome, as it is our pleasure.

Much grassiness of hop aroma, but with some dark roasted malts too.

Lazy dark black pour with a magnificent head of slightly off white.

I found this very bitter initially, but with a full mouthfeel, and a bunch of other things like chocolate or roasted coffee. Long finish that ends with a bitter tang.

Having had a recent run of softer mellower on the bitterness beers this has come of a bit of a palate shock.

The aroma and appearance of this is fantastic, I'm still undecided though. There aren't many styles of beer with bitterness at 90IBU's, so you can get out of practice. That or the profile of the flavours is, for me, slightly off kilter.

There are enough layers in this for it to be interesting in every sup. The warmth of the malts is there, you have to pick them out. Some nice lacing in the glass as I drink this. (none of this padding is because I'm thinking about what I'm drinking, he said without conviction).

I think I was expecting a more rounded less aggressive beer, is what. So this started as a celebration beer that's morphed into a year round. You'd not be surprised that the initial enthusiasm has carried with it and that this is well regarded.

As much as I am loathe to go against the grain I am still frowning, and betwixt and between, it's like I've gone soft.

This is a loud beer, and the pdubyah-o-meter has to get off the fence and rate it on the arbitrary scale of things. Which is does as an 8. It's very good.

I'm sure that I have the fridge too cold because as these warm in the glass the flavours get more rounded, but the overall profile becomes slightly more tart. It is all a bit in your face though, so come prepared.

I like this more the less there is of it to drink. And that has to be good right ?

BLACK IPA

An emerging beer style roughly defined as a beer with IPA-level hopping, relatively high alcohol and a distinct toasty dark malt character. Typically lacks the roastiness and body of a strong stout and is hoppier than a strong porter. Expressive dry-hopping is common. Also called India Dark Ale, India Black Ale, Cascadian Dark Ale, Dark IPA, and sometimes India Brown Ale.