Bashah

Here’s one that you’re unlikely to find on the draft list at your local Chili’s. Bashah. A limited-run collaboration between California’s Stone Brewing Company (Ruination IPA, Arrogant Bastard Ale) and Scotland’s BrewDog (Tactical Nuclear Penguin, Riptide), it is of course exactly what you were expecting …a Black Double Belgian IPA checking in at 8.6% alcohol and retailing for $10 per eleven ounce bottle. OK, I guess I wasn’t expecting that either. Nevertheless when I spied a few of these unusual beers on the shelf at the local bottle shop I felt compelled to purchase a couple, though at a calculated price of $14.54 per pint I wasn’t sure if I really wanted to like this beer or not.

But it was with much fanfare that I finally broke open one of these bottles last week and shared short pours with a half-dozen like-minded homebrewers and beer dorks. The tasting generated a common response among those who tried it…an uncomfortable silence punctuated by a confused, “What the fuck?” Right. The beer itself was medium-bodied though muscular, with notes of coffee, chocolate cake, plums and maraschino cherries in the nose, with a strong undercurrent of toffee, raisins, and dates in the palate, all beautifully balanced by the intense herbal and pine notes of the hops…OK, I completely made that shit up. Seriously. What kind of doorknob talks like that about beer?

So what did it really taste like? I dunno. Sort of like equal parts Bell’s Expedition Stout, Green Flash West Coast IPA, and Victory Golden Monkey. Which is to say...what the fuck? None of this is to suggest that this is an unpleasant beer by any means. On the contrary, in the right quantities (like say, a 2 ounce pour) it’s actually pretty tasty…in a “have you tried these herbed, poached gerbil brains?” sort of way. A unique taste sensation, but you really don’t feel moved to Super-Size it.

The ultimate question is, how does it compare to other commercial examples of Black Double Belgian IPA? Well, I suppose when someone else actually brews one then we’ll know. Until then Bashah will simply have to set the standard. Such as it is.