North Coast Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout

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

12oz bottle. Aroma is smokey, molasses, caramel and alcohol. Jet black with a small brown head. Taste is sweet roasted malt with a light chocolate bitterness. Full bodied, creamy and thick with a long after taste. This is a very nice Imperial Stout.

Black pour with a brown head. Aroma of roasted malts, coffee and dark chocolate. Mostly coffee and roasted malts in the flavor. Some chocolate and alcohol in the finish. Seems to be balance nicely but this isn’t a style I’m super familiar with.

60 degrees in a snifter. Pours very dark brown with a syrupy thickness and leaves a nice looking tan head that turns into a small tan film in less than 3 min. Aroma is a combination of coffee, chocolate, sweet smelling roasted malt, a hint of vanilla and oats, and alcohol. Flavor is all chocolate coffee, and a good deal on the sweet side. Finish is quickly fading sweetness, and slight alcohol warming. No sign of coffee or hop bitterness. Mouthfeel is medium to thin, and I can feel the sugary sweetness in my mouth well after it’s gone. Overall, a sweet and drinkable imperial stout with a good aroma and taste, but lacking a good balance and not as bitter as I would prefer.

I decided to have this as a birthday beer. Pours a 8000 mile used valvoline black. Big, frothy, dark tan head. Smells of roasted malts, coffee and chocolate. Lots of coffee in the taste with a hint of chocolate and cherry. Heavy coffee and bitter chocolate aftertaste with a bit of alcohol. This definitely was a complex beer, enough to move to the top of my ratings. Great beer. Top shelf.

Black as night. Dark roasted coffee as well as hints of fruit. A very good, well balanced imperial.

smells very delicious, like roasted malt and coffee; a slight sugary smell like burned sugar. very black with a thin tan head. tastes like coffee and bitter chocolate with a strong bitter edge (as though it was roasted too long and burned, but in a good way). the flavor lasts a pretty long time, and there is a lot of body to this stout as it tastes VERY rich. medium carbonation, and is a little thicker than the average beverage but is still very fluid. The 8.50 I payed for 4 bottles was well worth it, north coast seems to have put a lot of effort into this one, and it shows!

pours black with no head. aroma is coffee. flavor is coffee. after taste is coffee. very good but TONS OF COFFEE.

12oz brown glass pry-top. No freshness date, but been in my fridge for two-months. Appearance: Rough pour produced 1/4 inch tan sudsy head. Recedes quickly, leaving spotting. Deep black with mahogony red around the edges. Nose: Roasted malt, black coffee, toffee, a little wisp of alcohol. Smells great! Palate: Medium-bodied with crisp bitter edge. Lots of roasted and burnt coffee bean notes, cocoa nibs, black coffee, bitter chocolate. Long to moderate finish. Notes: Significantly less creamy than the nitro-tap experience I’ve gotten used to lately. A great beer, but seriously bitter and drier feeling in the bottle.