The Beer That Started It All - An Ode to Arrogant Bastard

The craft beer revival has seen several important events. The first was when Fritz Maytag started Anchor Brewing and released its Steam beer in 1971. This reversed a beer industry contraction that started after Prohibition and saw the closure or acquisition of small and regional brewers. Anheuser-Busch, Coors and Miller became the country's dominant breweries, while small and regional breweries became nearly nonexistent. Fritz Magtag started a change in the direction of the beer industry from macro to micro that is still going today.

The second import time in the craft beer revival period was in the 1980s. Small brewers were started, building on the microbrew idea started at Anchor. Breweries included Sierra Nevada, Boston Beer Company (Sam Adams) and Grant's. Many of these companies have stayed in business and thrived as consumers tired of "fizzy yellow" beer and looked for the flavor and craftsmanship of small brewers. Small brewpubs, offering basic food and microbrew, started to open across the country. They typically offered a standard menu of beer - a light ale, something "amber," maybe a wheat beer, a pilsner, a stout or porter, and many brewed some kind of fruit infused beer. Patrons could get a good meal and a beer with more flavor than a Coors or Bud. But by the mid-1990s the formula had grown stale and boring, and craft brewers and brewpubs began to close.

To me, the third, and maybe most important date after Maytag's revival at Anchor, occurred in 1996 with Stone Brewing's release of Arrogant Bastard. This started a revolution in craft beer that is still evolving. Stone was a new brewer in 1996, it did not have a brewpub, and Arrogant Bastard set a new benchmark in taste and style. Arrogant Bastard, with its bold taste and undefined style, was brewed as Stone's flagship beer, not a specialty or seasonal release. It was an aggressive statement and Stone's other beers were also aggressive. Stone dared people to drink Arrogant Bastard.

Arrogant Bastard opened the door for extreme beers and brewers have not looked back. Stone's lead let other brewers go bold. Amber lagers have given way to double IPAs, pale ales to saisons and stouts to imperial stouts. Bland beers are being replaced by flavor bombs. Arrogant Bastard and its success gave brewers the green light to go bold and brewers freely experimented and created edgy, exciting beers. Belgian-style beers and Imperial stouts are obscure no more, and double IPA is a new style with a fervent following of dedicated "Hopheads." Now, some breweries only create beers that would have been unheard of ten years ago. The Lost Abbey's sought after beers are all Belgian-style. The Bruery, a small, new brewery in Placentia, California, only makes what can be described as extreme beers, and its beers are gaining in recognition and distribution.

Of course bold for the sake of bold only goes so far, and a beer must ultimately taste good and be drinkable. Arrogant Bastard is a very drinkable beer. As noted above, it is an ale of no particular style. Its color is a deep, rich, almost burnt orange and it pours clear. It is heavily hopped with a strong malt balance. It is a serious beer whose flavor makes you take notice and pay attention.

I recently shared a pitcher of Arrogant Bastard with a friend at barbecue restaurant when I had the epiphany that let to this post. I had not had an Arrogant Bastard for some time and had forgotten its complexity, depth and how damn good it was. Today, there are many beers more extreme than Arrogant Bastard. It is my opinion that many of these beers would not have been brewed if Arrogant Bastard had not paved the way in 1996. It ushered in craft beers' biggest revival, and one that is getting stronger every year. We are not worthy!