Superbowl 43

Chips, dip and beer, oh yeah and 60 minutes of play time that lasts 3 hours. Its Superbowl 43, Pittsburgh Steelers vs Arizona Cardinals. Steelers very much the favorite to win but as with every Superbowl before, if you put the underdogs up against the wall they tend to bite back. Anyway back to the beer, I was thinking about doing the Superbowl with the traditionally piss poor effort of Budweiser, Coors, Millar or some other weak watery big brand commercial US beer. Instead I chanced my arm at something else, a bit more exciting, Double Bastard Ale http://www.arrogantbastard.com/doublebastard/2008/index.html a limited addition brew by Stone brewery. I was ready to slate this beer as an over the top brew pudding, but can't. Ok it is over the top 10.5% ABV, but its meant to be, its made to be “just plain excessive excessiveness”. Bravo, you gotta do these things, and if you're a unique proudly independent brewer then why the hell not. This wasn't easy to make, it took attention, time and effort. Rich, heavy, plenty of hop boldness, rolls onto your palette as a heavy weight, loads of flavor and lots of character. The only thing for me is, the heat, 10.5% alcohol, can be really heavy on the palette, a little numbing with that null heat that can swamp flavor. But, a beer like this is great to see, Like the Steelers 100 yard ball return, to touch down, longest in Superbowl history.