North Coast Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout

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

Bottle conditioned, courtesy of Jacob Lövenlund. Black with red flashes, good lasting creamy of white head and good condition. Good roasted coffee, burnt barley and sweet liquorice aromas, full bodied and sweet in the mouth with intensifying coffee, liquorice and roast barley being joined by a genle fruity berry note. Alcohol finally becomes apparent in the finish, but remains soft and smooth with hints of creamy coffee and dry roasted bitterness.

One dark coloured light headed commie. The covering light fruity aroma is a surprise with the dark colour. The more usual malty nose is beneath if you look. A lighter body than expected with a noticeable alcohol character and finish. Imperial is a good word since you can taste the pedigree.

This is a nice beer that I had a few bottles of from my local Whole Foods. Nice, big foamy head with smells of chocolate and coffee. Some sweetness on the tongue with great balance. Superb mouthfeel. A winner for sure.

Bottle. Ash, alcohol, and chocolate aroma. Dark black-brown color wtih thin film of a tan head. Dark chocolate, molasses, and coffee initially followed by an ash, alcohol, and hops finish. A nice cocoa aftertaste while cool but more of an alcohol burn as it warms. Slight carbonation. Fairly complex flavor but tends to get overwhelmed by the alcohol flavor.

Biggish brown head. Dark barely translucent red-brown body. Mild raisiny roasty toffee aroma with chocolatey notes. Sweet-dry alcoholic chocolatey toffee taste with marzipan and raisin notes. Fullish body. Hot mouthfeel. Dry roasty dusty wooden chocolate aftertaste is fairly short. Very nice, but perhaps a bit sweet and mild. (0.33l bottle at Olympen.)

In the bottle. LOVED IT! Pours black and beautiful. Very strong ethanol aroma. Burns the nostrils to sniff it. Rich and thick malt body. OG must be a beast, but 9% ABV seems like an underestimate. I’ll bet this racks well. UPDATE: At my 2007 Impy Stout Tasting. Thanks to Nate for the beer. When compared head to head with 18 other commercial Imperial Stouts in one tasting, this old dog just won’t hunt at my original score of 4.5. Not as dark as most, mildy perfumey. No strong aroma otherwise. A bit of smoke to the taste.

Black with a small tan head that stayed around. Coffee is the dominant aroma, but also some chocolate. Lots of flavors. Coffee and chocolate are the easiest to pick up, but there was also soy sauce, red wine, some tobacco, and sour fruit. There was so much there it is hard to pick up everything with only one bottle. Heavy and rich. Outstanding, but I still got the perception something was missing. It loses points for the alcohol taste in the finish.

Black as coal, small brown creamy head. Aroma of espresso, dark chocolate, dark fruit and roasted malt. It has an intense mouthfell (just the way I like) with strong notes of dark chocolate, espresso, dried plums, smoke with some ashy and hop notes. Long and full finish of espresso with a hop bite. As you know - this is a world class beer.