When it comes to Alaskan Brewing Co. and anniversaries, you can make a safe bet that it will be a big Stout and that birch syrup will be involved. I am burying the lead though. 35 Years! That is a great achievement.
35 Cheers for Alaskan Brewing
Ring the Bell 35 Times
Bell’s is bringing out an extra special Russian Imperial Stout for their 35th year and this is the type of beer that you should get one for now and one for later because they really do some complex dark beers that you will want to test again in a year or so.
16 Ounces of Rasputin
North Coast is putting their flagship Old Rasputin into 16oz cans and I am torn. I do not think it is a 16oz type of beer. To me it is more a 10oz specialty bottle, that packaging would have you sipping more carefully, to wring every last drop out of it.
Up From the Cellar – 2011 Pugachev’s Cobra from Hangar 24
I am trying to remember to pull up a beer from the cellar once a month. I feel that I need to catch back up to the amount purchased. This month, we have a 2011 beer from Hangar 24 in Redlands. This Russian Imperial Stout smells like a rum barrel and not bourbon. Initially this super dark beer is quite sweet then there is quite a burn going down the throat. There is also a strange sort of woody note tucked inside as well. Three distinct flavor stages. This beer does not let you forget it is strong but it does end very dry. For a 7 plus year old beer, it has held up. With the years this beer might be sharper with no rounded notes that might have been there earlier but still a good sipper.
Review – 2016 Russian Imperial Stout from Stone
Thanks to the PR department at Stone Brewing Co., I was able to taste the 2016 version of the Russian Imperial Stout. And they must have known that I was partial to the non-dressed up base version.
This RIS has milk chocolate in the aroma. It is also quite luxurious in mouthfeel, almost like satin and there is a little bit of ABV heat at the back. This is not a super complex beer though there is a trace of some coffee bitterness, light though. Underneath is a bit of pineapple fruit on the tongue which might age away if you kept it around.
Just Don’t Attack Crimea Afterwords
If you are a fan of aggressive behavior and extreme manliness and have a taste for Russian Imperial Stouts then the newest beer from Hair of the Dog, might be for you. Putin is a collaboration with Brouwerij de Molen, where their combined RIS is aged in bourbon barrels.
It will probably command a premium in 12 ounce bottles, as well as way big 1 liter bottles.
Longshot!
Coming to a mixed 6-pack near you next spring are the newly crowned winners of the Sam Adams LongShot competition.
Russian Imperial Stout by Joe Formanek of Bolingbrook, IL
Munich Dunkel by Corey Martin of Round Rock, TX
Derf’s Secret (Sticke) Alt by Fred Hessler (employee)
Personally, I am looking forward to the last two, especially the Sticke.
Stone Russian Imperial Stout Review
The Stone folks are really impressing me with their Odd Years program. Here is my review of the Russian Imperial Stout….
Belgo Anise RIS
The oddness continues in 2011 with the latest Stone release. You are reading the headline correctly. A Russian Imperial Stout (Stone style) with Belgian influence and then to really just add another massive layer of flavor, some anise. And knowing Stone, it won’t be a teaspoon. It will be a heaping helping of the anise.
Sip cautiously!
Highly Anticipated Seasonal # 1
Well now you can try their ’11 special release. A Russian Imperial Stout. Here’s to hoping that it isn’t one of the alco-bombs that are so prevalent and so over-hyped.