North Coast Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout

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

[bottle from State Line Liquors] Not quite opaque black--blood red can be seen when the beer is held in front of a light source. Fuzzy tan flanel blanket remained for a while over the top. Estery aroma bursting with lychees and some strawberry. Melanoidins and a touch of fusel oils--only faint wafts of dark malt in the nose (how’d they do that!?). Quite ethanolic flavour balanced with a healty dose of roast and sweet malt. Everything is in excellent balance: significant malt and hops bitterness / residual sweetness / roasty flavour / alcohol. Medium to full body with moderate warming from alcohol and modest carbonation. The roasty bitterness lingers with some of the lychee character.

Pours out inky black with a small head. Coffee, chocolate, and a hint of fruit in the nose. Big and bold, really amazing. Taste is thick with hops and some coffee biterness. Sneaky alcohol, would be even better when the weather gets cooler. If you are in the mood for a ball buster of a beer, this is it.

Rerate - Nov. 1, 2005 - 3 years old. Gets even better with age. Beautiful complexity in both the nose and the body. Awesome!! Original Rating - July 3, 2002 Very dark ruby red color, big creamy light brown head. Full, fresh aroma of chocolate, coffee and alcohol - not necessarily in that order. Body doesn’t dissapoint. Very complex, big roasted notes, finishes smooth and very bitter. Lovely.

Very dark brown, almost opaque, nice tan head. Dark malty aroma with some dark chocolate. Flavor was very malty, some alcohol flavors, maybe brandy, along with chocolate and a coffee finish and aftertaste. Medium-full body, but not nearly as full as some of its contemporaries. Very good, not the best, though.

12oz bottle. Almost black, dark brown with a scant brown head. Aroma has powerful licorice and roasted malts. The flavor is big and roasty with coffee bitterness; quite dry in the finish, and the hops blend in and don’t overwhelm the balance. Full palate with fizzy carbonation. Very drinkable for an imperial, but intense and rich, dry and bitter. Goes nicely with chocolate desserts. (3.8) Rerate: This is damn good on tap. More dark chocolate and less hop bitterness, though still balanced nicely and very drinkable.

Black w/ small head. Dry, coffee, chocolate nose. Thick & chewy. Nice bitter chocolate & burnt coffee flavour w/ underlying notes of caramel & molasses. Balanced, bitter finish.

Almost completely black, but a close look unravels a wonderful ruby red tint. Medium frothy tan head. Fuckin awesome looking beer! Huge aroma of burnt coffee, chocolate, licorice, brandy like hints, rather dryish in the aroma. Huge flavor, nice hops, rather bitter. Good coffe flavors, some molasses, rather sticky, some nuttyness. Very drinkable imp stout. Deeeelicous!

12 oz bottle pours dark black with a brown soapy head that fades down leaving lines of lacing. Aroma is rarely light some roast and chocolate. The flavor hits the tongue as sweet with carbonation on the tip of it, bakers chocolate and raisins? fade to the roasted bean flavor - slightly harsh raw coffee beans clinging in the inside of my mouth and a little alcohol barely peaking its head out. Finishes with that dry bitter coffee bean flavor. This is the first impy stout I ever had and at the time I thought it was crazy and too intense. But not I’d like to see a little more chocolate and smooth creaminess.