Stone Bourbon Barrel Russian Imperial Stout

Brewed by Stone Brewing Co.
Style: Imperial Stout
Escondido, California USA

Draft… RBSG ‘08… This beer rocks!… Pitch black ale with a very small, creamy, khaki-colored head. Chocolaty, vinous aroma with notes of vanilla and controlled bourbon. Full-bodied and ultra silky with restrained carbonation. The finish is charred and chocolaty with discreet, elegant bourbon. About as good as it gets!

Draft at the Bistro. Pours pitch black, with a small, swirly, light tan head. Smells of rich, creamy, vanilla, light chocolate cream, dark malt, roast, and bourbon. The flavor is much the same. Very oily and fullbodied. The bourbon isnt overpowering, but blends really nicely with the rest of its characters. Some chocolate and dark malts are very noticeable behind the bourbon, with the roastiness not as apparent in the flavor. Just a really well done barrel aged brew. Not a whole lot of flaws in this one.

~RBSG ’08~

On draft at Stone. Pours a pitch black color, with wet dripping lacing and a small little head. Aromas of roasted coffee, bourbon, and very dark chocolate. Flavor is great, with big roasted chocolate, creamy caramel spliced throughout, some slight smoke. The finish is nice and full of coffee. Very smooth. The chocolate is just like velvet here. Bitter coffee finish is perfect. Alcohol is undetectable.

Draft at Stone Bistro at RBSG. Thanks to Greg Koch for bringing this bad boy out, as I have wanted to try this one for a long time. Pours black with a thin brown head. Aroma of dark chocolate, vanilla, and dark roast. Full bodied with slick, slightly creamy texture. Initial flavor of dark bakers chocolate, mild coffee, cherry, and vanilla that transitions to nice bitter and peppery hoppiness mid palate. Some of the wood comes out in the finish along with a slight bite. Warming as it goes down. I had so many Bourbon barrel beers this weekend, and this was one of the best because the barrel accented the beer, not dominated it with overpowering flavors of bourbon. Well done and worthy of the hype.

RBSG on tap at Stone. Wow, wow, and wow. I was simply thrilled with this beer. The bourbon barrel added a great flavor/character to the beer. My favorite of all I tasted today, and I’m not normally a big stout guy.

PPSAF 07. Deep dark black in color with no head. Bourbon roasty malty aroma. Caramel chocolatety notes. Roasty chocolatety malty flavor. Vanilla notes. Sweet tasting. Finish is roasty. Full bodied. Creamy. Very nice and enjoyable.

Pours a deep black color with a thin light brown head. Appealing aroma of bourbon, wood, black chocolate and roasted malt. Very good flavor of bourbon, wood, roasted malt, chocolate, vanilla and some alcohol, there’s bitterness in the end. The body is light to medium with a liquorous texture and moderate carbonation. This bourbon barrel version is very good, but I definitely prefer the regular RIS.

Sample thanks to Drewbeerme side by side with stone IRS ’06. Opaque black with medium red-brown head. Barrel forward wtih subtle alc, a little dark fruit, chocolate, pretty well balanced. Flavor is big chocolate and barrel, red and dark fruit and barrel cherry, alc, big malt presence, I can defintely dig it. Medium body and alc, wish there was some more creaminess but what can you expect. Big alc but the barrel to beer blend is right on, it really takes a big beer like this to hold up to this kind of barrel.