Bashah Black Double Belgian IPA

Night finally came and I needed some downtime. Leather chair, not so good novel and a bottle of bashah from the back of the beer fridge. A collaboration between Stone Brewing of San Diego and BrewDog, this beer – theoretically – reflected the anarchistic, in-your-face, anti-average philosophies of both breweries, the latter inspired by the former. I braced myself for a beer reflecting that; a liquid red-flag waving, barricade storming, anti-establishment sense bomb. Au contrarie, mon ami. Instead I was treated to a meaty, full, complex, well integrated, luscious beverage reminding me of the best feasts of my life. Full bodied with a saturated brown head, the mouthfeel was anything but cloying. A lot of toasted nuts and charcoal grilled steaks with a wild array of spicing and dried fruit. If this were a painting it would be the size of a museum wall combining the satisfaction of a Manet with the brio of a Rauschenberg, and not miss a beat.