Sunday, January 26, 2014

Stone Punishment

Let's follow Patience with Punshment. Wait, that makes no sense. But, I did it, anyway, and learned a lesson: Don't spend $17 on a bottle that you're probably not going to like. Notes, ahoy!


Stone Punishment, 2013 Double Bastard Ale, Ale brewed with peppers and aged in bourbon barrels. 12.0% ABV.

Highly hazed, dark , rich amber hue, under a slim, whitish head.

Aroma: high peppery heat, little bit of chocolate. Actually, a lot of bit. I like this.

Taste: Boom! Whoa! I was not ready for this! Ho! Ha! Hee Hoo! Scalding on the palate, overwhelming heat. What? Whoa! Maybe you'd think  that'd come in handy, after the sub-freezing temps I've been dealing with, but it's not my tongue that's been frozen, it's my toes.

Ow! What? How? Why? No, really, Why?

I have to say that this is not particularly enjoyable. For me. And I don't have any lesser beers to mix it with. I'm pouring it down the drain, I'm not mixing it with any non-beers…so, I might have to mix it with what I'd have …which is a good beer, a bottle of Fulton's The Libertine. I need some rescue from this, this…monstrosity. Punishment is the absolute best word for this. It's too, too much.

I wonder what the label tells us? "Punishment was born as Double Bastard Ale, a heavy bitter beast of a beer. It was already not for the timid, but with the addition of jaw-dropping quantities of freshly harvested local peppers, including mid-level heat red and green jalapenoes and ultra-hot  black nagas, Caribbean red-hots, Moruga scorpions and fatalis, it morphed into a a truly punishing brew.  Aged in  Kentucky Bourbon barrels. 82 IBUS. 12.0% Alc. by Vol.

I just had to try it. Had to grab it while the grabbing is good, but it wasn't for me. Who is this for? It's nearly undrinkable. Terribly unbalanced. Too much fire. Not for my tongue. Adding the Libertine is bringing it down some, but not a lot.

Ahhhh!!! Whoa! Wow!
Come on! for the love of Christ!

That's where my notes stopped. I added as much of The Libertine as I could, and didn't make it through the combination of the two beers. Not for me. Now we know. (But didn't we already?)

2 comments:

Kris said...

Your comments echo all the others I've heard about this beer, which is really too bad considering it's basically $17 down the drain from a brewery that usually makes a great product.
I understand wanting to push boundaries and I think they succeeded in creating punishment. It's just unfortunate that they also play into our beer geek need to try something (ok, anything and everything) new.

lizpeck said...

Shared a Crime with three others as an accompaniment to a rich chicken dinner. That worked.