North Coast Old Rasputin Anniversary Bourbon Barrel Aged Stout

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

Bottle - 16.9 ounces corked and caged. Old Rasputin XII. Midnight black pour with a tall, dense brown foam head. Aroma is bourbon, oak, vanilla, molasses, roasted malt, dark chocolate and sweet malt. Taste is big bourbon, vanilla and oak atop molasses, caramel, sweet malt, dark chocolate, and alcohol warmth. Body is thick, chewy and warming with a dense, creamy carbonation.Ends much the same way it began - big bourbon, oak and vanilla with more molasses, dark chocolate, light coffee and roasted malt. Very nice!

Big bottle from hi-time. Dark brown body with lacy head. Really nice nose of chocolate, malts and toffee. Chocolate shake taste. Full-bodied. Really roasty, smooth and delicious. Tres bien!

Black pour, offwhite/tan head. Woody, bourbon aroma with touches of vanilla and subtle dark fruit. First sip is sweet and dark with woody chocolate and boozey bourbon. Vanilla, sweet oak and chocolate and a chalky finish. Dark and brooding, really delectable

Bottle thanks to smokepot23!
XII Anniversary pours black with a bubbly tan head with decent lacing. Bourbon comes first in the nose, then some chalky cocoa, brownie cake and ash. Flavor has heavy bourbon and alcohol, also light chocolate, particularly in the finish. Palate is washed out from the alcohol, ends thin and dry. Bourbon really drowns most of the complexity, some vanilla coming in hints with the chocolate but unfortunately one-dimensional and washed out.

Poured into a snifter. Black with frothy tan head. Aroma strongly of bourbon, sweet dark fruit, oak, and roasted coffee. Taste is medium sweetness, medium bitterness. Mouthfeel is creamy, slightly thin, oily, with soft carbonation. Overall, quite delicious!

Aroma of dark chocolate, malts, oak, bourbon, and alcohol. Pors a really dark black with a light tan head frothy head. Flavors are dark chocolate, smooth bourbon, tons of dark malt, and actually I taste a lot of hops in the background of this beer. But at 11.2ABV and mountains of malt you cant really taste them too much. Super smooth mouthfeel, absolute luxury to drink. Overall this is much like the delicious regular raspy but even more yummy.

Tap at the Blind Tiger for VSK. Drank this along side a Black Xantus and this was little better. Just another middling BA IS that fails to do anything new. Rasputin isn’t a particularly big IS as it is, so it comes as little surprise that it can’t stand up to the barrels, especially after a far-too-long 9 months.

Black pour with dark brown around the rim. Small tan head. Aroma holds tons of bourbon, vanilla, lots of wood, walnut, and a touch of raisin and fig. Flavor is glorious; loads and loads of bourbon and wood. Bits of vanilla, cream, and dark fruit also come through. The palate is really nice; the booze is clearly evident at the start, but it shifts to a enticing roasted bitterness later in the flavor, with a superb chalky finish. The only possible downfall of this beer is that the barrels may have masked some of the natural flavors of Rasputin, but it’s so good that if you take it as its own beer rather than in comparison, it is still incredible. Glad I saved this one, phenomenal brew.