Stone/ BrewDog Booshwah, I mean, Bashah

Full disclosure: I love the blending of styles, and the breaking of rules, and admire the "punks" of the beer scene. But, if you propose to be doing that, and ending up sending us something rather tried and done, and cover it up with a verbose smokescreen of incomprehensible bullshit, I will call that out. And here is what I wrote when I had a bottle of BrewDog/Stone Bashah, the Scotland/San Diego collaboration, tonight:

Brew Dog Bashah, The Black Belgian Style Double India Pale Ale by BrewDog and Stone Brewing, Product of Scotland.

bashah, what does it mean…oh, god this is wordy, oh, for the love of….a lot of blah, blah, blah, talk of substance, but little of it…is this the work of Stone, or BrewDog? I know the Stone labels to be willfully wordy, flagrantly florid, exaggerated extraneousness….perhaps they influenced the Scots, in this?

Whatever, it's too much for me to copy, and we'll take the bare bones and see what this Black Belgian Double IPA is all about.

It is black, fully ebon in coloration, with a 1/4" slim, but lasting head. Looking good.

Aroma: booze hits first, not surprising, from one of the contenders in the strongest beer olympics, some hit of bourbon, maybe..grassy hops show up, right next to dark fruit. Char and molasses, and I'm wondering why this isn't an Imperial Stout. There's still some bright hoppy character, if you look for it, but more Black than Belgian, and barely IPA…so far…

Taste: anise, at first, then black malt, a bit of chocolate, some rich, roastiness, then the grassy hop flavor reveals itself, a bracing blast of bitterness. No. it's not that big, and it's butting heads against the chocolate malt factor.

Disclaimer: I'm against the Black IPA/ Cascadian Ale, blah, blah, blah, whatever, style, it's an interesting hybrid, a notable experiment, but as a full-blown style, I find it unworthy. Most attempts have been clumsy, with a clash of the primary flavors, hops vs. roasted dark malts. Only a few I've had have been enjoyable, and the rest have been suffered through.

This one, pretty balanced, but doesn't escape that clash, it's still happening, and I find little enjoyment in it. I don't feel this high level of grassy, piney hops matches at all well with dark, roasty malts, and it's …gobbledygook!

Okay, now I want to quote the damn label copy, Check this nonsense out:

"BASHAH: what does it mean? Yes, what indeed does it all mean. Meaning, of course, is elusive and illusive. It can't, or shouldn't be found on this bottle. Should it? Yet, what if it was? Would you look for pearls of wisdom or life direction on a beer label? Perhaps it's been there all along. Since meaning is a mere illusion, perhaps we shouldn't let it have any influence on our destiny. This particular beer has refused to succumb to the illusion of meaning or allow capricious parameters to have any influence on it's own fermented fate. Are we even asking the right questions? Are you feeling frustrated in the emptiness? If so, that could be because someone got to this beer before you, and thus there's a reason for this emptiness. It's empty. And if so, perhaps indeed there is not any meaning for you here after all.

Style over substance, or substance over the scriptures of style? The latter, thank you very much. Twice."

Good God, what hogwash! Not a single word about what the beer tastes like or how it was made, just a load of words, words, words! (And too many uses of "indeed". Use it once, or be a pansy.

I don't turn to a beer label for pearls of wisdom or the meaning of life, but for a something about the fucking beer, for God's sake, is that so much to ask for? I'm not searching for "meaning", just tell me about the f'ing beer, already!

No, my emptiness comes from the fact that the beer doesn't taste very good, and isn't impressive in the least, but covers it up with a lot posturing, pride, machismo, attitude, and words, words, words. Words with no meaning. And a lot of debating about what meaning means. I call bullshit.

Stone has made their name with their attitude and backed it up with their beer. BrewDog is much the same, and you'd expect their combination to be something spectacular. When I spend $5 on a 12 ounce bottle, it had better be special, it shouldn't be a lot of words covering up a very ordinary stab a a lame pseudo-style.

P.S. I didn't taste the "Belgian", either.