Inglorious? Not quite.

Bad spelling. Strong beer.

Ah, Arrogant Bastard. Stone's unapologetic strong ale with a name that fits better than most. I suppose Obnoxious Twit, Condescending Jerk, and Inconsiderate Dick were all taken, but it's still pretty well identified. They've done the occasional variant (Oaked and Double), but today, we're trying the just-recently-released blend of all three: Lucky Bastard.

Finding info on this beer is difficult, least of which because Stone likes to get cute and attach "CLASSIFIED" to the basic stats, publishing the alcohol amount and that's about it. So we can't target the hop variety, the IBU's, the gravity, or even the type of blending that went on. I've poked around and online searches have done nothing to help. Minus the 8.5%, the bottle itself has a typewriter-esque rant on the back with intentional misspellings everywhere. I would've appreciated a bit more info to go on.

It's definitely from Stone: hop smells galore, predominantly citrus with a pungent, almost musty-scent. There is the occasional whiff of sweetness, but you only start picking that up as the beer warms in the glass. It's a beautiful shade of red, this stuff - the color completely matches what the devil on the front would be sipping.

The taste is a front-end shove from the alcohol. I admit to some surprise - with my taste buds, I tend to pick up heavy alcohol toward the finish of the beer, not the start. But this is the reverse: malty burn to start, but like a wave receding into the ocean, the burn fades and leaves an incredible amount of hoppy oils on your tongue. Excellent finish on this for an ale. Try it, but pack food along for the ride. It does a good number on cutting out the flash of booze and leaving the rest of the flavor.