De Molen Rasputin

Brewed by Brouwerij de Molen
Style: Imperial Stout
Bodegraven, Netherlands

750ml Bottle: Lightly sweet aroma. Smells of sweet cream, malts, piney hops, chocolate, alcohol, and sugar. Poured dark brown with hints of ruby and black in color and a medium-sized, dense, creamy, khaki head that diminished but lasted throughout. Cloudy. Full of medium and large-sized particles. Flavor is lightly sweet. Tastes of cream, roasted malts, alcohol, piney hops, and some chocolate. Medium to full body. Smooth, creamy texture. Soft to average carbonation. Smooth, chalky finish with some alcohol to it.

Pours turbid ruddy dark brownish blackish with 1-finger tan head. Nose is dark malt, nutmeg, floral hops, chocolate, christmas aley spices. Tastes roasty, pruney, spicy, with nutmeg, hops, heavy prune and molasses notes. Complex but a bit off the beaten path for an impy stout. Nonetheless, this one was unique and enjoyable.

PIB 2008. Pours dark brown with a small khaki head. Burnt chocolate notes up front, a bit of a roasty quality, a bit astringent, big bitter bakers chocolate to the finish. The palate was to light for me, carbonation was to high making it all airy and emphasizing the bitterness and cutting through any of the malt depth of it.

Bottle… Burnt caramel color with a small, creamy, off-white head. Good retention. Restrained, nutty nose. Full-bodied with a 2%-milk mouthfeel and spritzy carbonation. Leans heavily toward the sweet side of balance. Moderate burnt bitterness is surpassed by chocolate and caramel malt sweetness. Caramel and brown sugar finish.

Courtesy hopscotch. Pours dark brown, and semingly only medium bodied looking, with a small swirly off white head. Smells of dark malts, light tartness, and a bit of roast, but not much. This certainly looks pretty thin for an impy. Not a good start. The flavor is like I expected, a bit thin and bland. Not big and rich like an impy should be. Light bitter roast and dark fruit come through, but nearly as complex as I’d like. This was a bit of a bummer for me, as I was hyped to try it.

Courtesy Hopscotch. Pours an odd chestnut color. Aroma is atypical, with a pronounced fruity note. not much roasted quality to this at all. Very odd.

Bottle from The Ramsgate Brewery, Broadstairs: Pours a deep, dark brown. fantastic aroma of toffee, nuts and malt. Flavour is chocolate, toffee and lots of malt. Gorgeous mouthfeel, viscous and velvety in the mouth. More of a barley wine than an Imperial Stout, stunning none the less.

Bottle. Head is initially average sized, frothy, light brown, mostly diminishing. Body is hazy dark brown. Aroma is moderately malty (chocolate milk, caramel, roasted grain/nuts), lightly to moderately hoppy (resin, herbs). Flavor is heavily sweet, lightly acidic, lightly bitter. Finish is moderately sweet, lightly acidic, moderately bitter. Medium to full body, velvety texture, lively carbonation, lightly to moderately alcoholic. Surprisingly simple. More like a strong porter or brown ale than a stout...mostly chocolatey-caramel with very little roast, and rather light in color for a stout too. Nice mouthfeel, but the balance is mainly sugary sweetness without enough bitterness (or alcohol) to balance. I also don’t understand the comment on the label about lasting 25 years...I can’t see this avoiding the "cardboard creep" for more than 9-12 months.