What an Arrogant Bastard.

One of my favorite haunts is Parish Cafe, located at 361 Boylston, close to the intersection with Arlington Street. I am in the process of completing a beer card there, which means I have to drink about 75 beers over the course of a year. Once I finish the card, the establishment presents me with a huge beer mug engraved with whatever I want on it (I've chosen "The Texan"), and I only have to pay for a pint (but get a whole mugful) when I go in for a beer. Anyway, they require you to drink a variety of beers, some more obscure, some expected staples. It's a good introduction to the world of beer for those who never really drank beer before or people who found one beer they liked and have habitually ordered it since (like me).

One of the beers on the list is called Arrogant Bastard (click here for the official web site). It is everything that the name implies, though most of the arrogance and bastard qualities are on the label, not in the bottle. It is a remarkably strong-flavored beer, but if you drink beer on a regular basis (and when I say "beer," Miller Lite, Coors Light, Bud Light, etc. are not included... they're putrid water, not beer), it's not anything you shouldn't be able to stomach. I've watched a couple people force the last bits down their throats, but I did not have to force myself to finish it. It's huge, it has a 7.2% alcohol content, and it's very flavorful. At first, the flavor kind of kicks you in the tastebuds, but once you get over the initial potency, it can be an enjoyable beer. It's not smooth. It's not easy. It's not polite. This is what the brewing company (Stone) means by "Arrogant Bastard," I guess. Personally, I'll prefer a beer that errs on the side of being flavorful to one that doesn't have enough flavor (arrogant bastard as opposed to inchoate bastard, perhaps?), but too much flavor can be a bad thing. I would say that Arrogant Bastard is somewhere close to crossing that line, but does not. In other words, it's extremely flavorful, but not so flavorful that it's a bad thing.

Now, for the shocker... it's good with vanilla ice cream. I guess the two flavors balance each other out well, but seriously, it's good. I just had a craving for ice cream while I was drinking the beer. When I told the bartender, Jess, how good it was, she wanted to try it. She did. She said that from now on, if she was ever going to drink an Arrogant Bastard, she'd do so while eating vanilla ice cream. What a strange combination. I had been eating a man's sandwich (the meatloaf club) and drinking a man's beer (Arrogant Bastard), and then added vanilla ice cream.

Anyway, try an Arrogant Bastard. If you're man enough.