Stone Lucky Bastard

Stone Brewing out of California is one of those in your face craft breweries. They don't do subtlety very well. They've been that way since day 1 and announced it to the world when they released Arrogant Bastard, an American Strong ale that teases you right on the bottle with the phrase "You are not worthy". It packs a wallop of hops and an abv of 7.2%. They are well known for making very hoppy very strong beers, and in fact I count Ruination as one of my all time favorite DIPA's. Its with this knowledge that I was eager to pick up Stone's newest release Lucky Bastard, a beer celebrating its arrogant history, the beer is a blend of Arrogant Bastard, Oaked Bastard, and Double Bastard.
The Beer: This one weighs in at 8.8% and pours a chestnut rusty brown with a thick taupe colored head of dense foam. The nose has notes of vanilla, massive hops, and some caramelly malts. The scents assault you, and in your face as expected from a Stone brew. The mouthfeel is chewy, a bit harsh, tongue quenching bitterness up front. Notes of malt, caramel, a dusting of coco, vanilla. But this are all quickly washed away by a thick layer of resiny hops....so much so that nothing else is left on the pallete than hops and more hops, everything else is washed out. This beer is great as a hop bomb, but I think it fails at highlighting the great individual beers. This one gets a B- from me for that reason. A good but not great beer.