North Coast Old Rasputin Anniversary Bourbon Barrel Aged Stout

Brewed by North Coast Brewing Company
Style: Imperial Stout
Fort Bragg, California USA

Bottle at Akkurat, Stockholm Beer Festival 2007, after festival RB night
Black color with mahogany shades, persistent thin creamy head.
Wonderful aroma, sweet, malty, with mellow Bourbon vanilla, alcohol, sweet tobacco, cigars.
Good body strength, mostly alcoholic, with some sweetness left (not too much), warming, the best cappuccino flavor (coffee, milk, almost vanilla), smoked.
Maybe a bit too thin and alcoholic at the end, even if with good flavor.

Appearance: Pours a dark brown, near black body with a very thin, fizzy khaki-colored head. Smell: A quite captivating, strong bourbon-soaked aroma with all the expected notes of vanilla, oak, and dark brown sugar. Also lesser notes of dried dark fruits and caramel. Taste: Heavy bourbon taste with an incredible sweetness. Hints of dark caramel syrup and prunes. All in all, only a meager amount of roasted malt flavors make their way around the effusive bourbon qualities. Lightly alcoholic, semi-dry finish. Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied. Medium carbonation. Smooth mouthfeel. Nicely warming finish. Drinkability: The strong, prominent bourbon character does greatly blur the original beer for me, but as it is exceptionally delicious, I shan’t fault it for that. I shan’t!!

Thanks to thebeercellar for this one. He let us pick one of his cellar beers to bring up the tasting at his house and this was the one that I nagged him to break out. Large bourbon aroma, but not over the top in the flavor. A bit thin in the body. Well balanced with more vanilla than whisky.

Corked bottle, thanx to super secret AGENTSTEVE! Real nice pour,black body with red high lights. Tight, creamy tan head, left sweet lacing. Nose is all the wonderful characteristic of quality stouts; dark chocolates, vanilla, some caramel, bourbon, oak, and whiffs of smoke. Now to taste. There is bourbon up front, some alcohol carries the oak and wood around the tongue. There is bitter coffee and chocolate. this is wonderful, it would only get much better if anyone has the patience to cellar it. GREAT, Thanx STEVE! ahh, a point off, for the very light mouth feel.

500ml Bottle picked up at the brewery. Pours dark black with a thick foamy tan head, beautiful delicate lacing. Wonderful aroma with mild scents of bourbon, chocolates, dark fruits. Flavor wise, just incredible. So many different flavors in this ... more dark chocolates, bourbon, vanilla, oak, some caramel, etc. The bourbon flavor is just right imo. Silky smooth on the palate. One of my favorite beers to date. Excellent.

Bottle from kmweaver a couple of months ago. Thanks Ken! Pours with a 3mm medium buble head. Over the course of 10 minutes it converts to a thin microbubble film. Fine bubbles cling nicely to the side of the glass. Medium cardboard oxidized aroma notes, but not the sherry kind. Medium to strong oak notes. A bit of vanilla. Bourbon makes itself present when you taste it, but at a prudent level. It seems the flavors have melded and mellowed. Not quite as sweet as I remember regular Rasputin. Alcohol nose is hidden under the oxidation and oak, but it’s still there in force reducing drinkability. The bourbon and high ABV gives the illusion of fusel alohols in an unpleasant lingering way. I really have a tough time getting through this 6oz I’v poured in my glass. I recorked the bottle nicely and will give the rest to someone else. 7,4,7,3,14 Tried XII at the bottle shop. Bummer no new rating: This is best of them: 9,4,9,4,17

Bottle from kmweaver. Brown cola body with a small, fizzy, tan head. The nose is oaky-vanilla, milk chocolate, molasses and dark pitted fruits. The flavor is milk chocolate, vanilla, light bourbon and oak. Medium/full body is soft (borderline thin) with moderate carbonation.

Bottle sampled. Pours dark with ruby edges and a small light tan head. Aroma of bourbon, oak, vanilla, chocolate, roast, and coffee. The flavor is oak, vanilla, coffee, chocolate, bourbon, roast, with a fair amount of hops detectable. Great brew.