North Coast Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout

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

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.

330ml bottle from dsnowden, thank you! pour opaque black, small tan head, good lacing. Aroma is ALL roasty malt, with some hints of chocolate and coffee. This beer is super smooth. Flavour is big roasted malt, some hops add a great bitterness. Wow, wicked stout!

[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 a pitch black color with a surprisingly small creamy colored head. Roasted coffee and dark chocolate best describe the scent. Taste can be described as coffeeish, dark chocolates and slightly oaked bourbon. I go back and forth between this and Storm King as to which is my favorite imperial stout. An excellent beer !!

Bottle: O.K. nose not as strong as I might have thought, coffee & chocolate come to mind. Nice dark brown color. Bitter creamy chocolate flavor cover the tounge. Rich and thick. You got to love it.

Have had from a 12oz bottle and on tap - and both were simply amazing and one of the best and most complex Impy stouts out there!

Bottle poured into a snifter. Poured a dark black with a one finger creamy brown head. Aroma of roasted malt and brown sugar. Flavor of bitter coffee, bittersweet chocolate and roasted malt with a little warming alcohol on the end. Full bodied with soft carbonation. Good but not great impy.

Pours dark brown/black. Thin tan head settles quickly. Little lacing. Sweet malt aroma, dried fruit and hint of coffee also. Full bodied with a dry finish. Roasted malt, chocolate, coffee, licorice flavors. Complex. Excellent. --[rerate-12/04/06]-->Black black/brown edges. 1.5" of dense yet frothy tan head. Nose of roasty malt, resinous hops, burnt mocha, and subtle dark dried fruits and anise. Same flavors with some marshmallow like sweetness. Palate is full, but light in weight. Carbonation is balanced. Very drinkable for an imperial stout. Excellent.