De Molen Rasputin

Bottle I purchased in Chicago (Binny’s): Deep amber brown with a tan fluffy head. Dry aroma with nice yeast character- fruity and phenolic with some dry cocoa notes and prune. Fluffy light body with a dry flavor. Again there’s some cocoa in the flavor along with mild dark fruit notes (dates, but not sweet) with lots of spicy phenolics. Quite an interesting and against the grain Imperial Stout. Almost seems like the yeast strain is Belgian- but it works quite well here. Nice job. Oh, and there’s no way I would’ve guessed the high ABV.

Had this a few times now. This was the best bottle I have had so far. dark hazy brown black color with a small head. Aroma is nice and rich. Spicy, sweet, chocolate and a bit creamy. Nice body. Flavor is sweet, mellow spice, vanilla, wood. I like this a lot.

Bottle at Peter’s tasting. Pours a hazy brown with a medium sized tanned beige head. Slightly sour roast notes, wood. Medium bodied, huge carbonation. Roast, chocolate, cherry and plums. Finishes up with more spicy carbonation and some light slow roast bitterness.

Bottle at home ... brewed 27 march 2008 ... bottled 3 may 2008 .... bottle 476... drunk 3 october 2009 ... deep brown .. tan head ... sweet cheery and raspberry roast malt nose ... sweet cherry .. one of the fruitiest imperial stouts ive ever had ... really realy nice and the best of the evening (vs del cucato verdi and Smuttnose imp stout) ...

750-milliliter from Healthy Spirits, San Francisco. Rolled the dice on this one for $27. I figured that it would be great considering it was an "imperial stout" and had the name Rasputin in it. Poured a dark brown with a large frothy head. Aroma was very Abbey/Belgian in nature, not at all stouty. Flavor confirmed that this was more of a Belgian Strong Ale/impy hybrid if anything, with emphasis on the Belgian part. It had a little bit of chocolate and roasted malt, but was mainly of bread, spice, and cream. Like Bernardus 12 meets Sierra Nevada Stout. Weird. Not bad, but was just surprised, and then disappointed because I was all set for a thick, chewy imperial stout, which this wasn’t. Still hearty, nice once you get the hang of it. Medium mouthfeel/viscosity. Overall, good to very good.

This corked and caged bottled brew#164 bottled on 2/1/08 and brewed on 12/14/07 from a rating party at patrick’s poured a medium sized head of finely sized off-white colored bubbles that were and left behind a opaque no visible carbonation black colored body and a very good lacing. The aroma was dark malt. The mouth feel was tingly at the start and at the finish. The flavor contained notes of malt mild hops and dark malt. A decent one that I would consider having again.

Pretty young bottle. Bottled 16th March 2009. Aroma is dark roast and notes of nuts and treacle. Dark chocolate and black olive flavor.

Hey, I really like this beer and this brewery. Pours not quite black with a light brown head. Aroma of black walnuts - dark fruits - mince - some brandied chocolate; also caramel, raisins and rum. This beer certainly reminds one of a very good Barley Wine, the fruity sweet complexity held togeter with strong malts. The finish is long and rummy. did I say it has chunks?