Stone Imperial Russian Stout

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

Bottle. Chocolate, caramel roasted coffee. Some dried fruit and vanilla in the background. Very good.

Black black and black. Tan head thinned out quickly. Chocolate nose, some roasted malt hints. Full chocolate/coffee malt, hits of fruit/raisin/plum. Very full on the tongue. Flavor lingers on the back of the tongue. Alcohol is apparent but not overwhelming, the burn blends with the roasty bite.

VINTAGE Spring 2008 (12oz Bottle) Appears to be black, but you get a nice ring of dark brown at the surface when held to a light source. One-finger head of milk chocolate brown colored foam. Dissipates rapidly. Nice foamy lacing that slides down the sides of the glass, eager to be back in the dark. Big malt notes with a touch of booziness. Chocolate, both dark and milk. Black cherries. Vanilla. Toasted barley notes. A touch of brown sugar. Big taste of dark chocolate with notes of coffee. Brown sugar sweetness with dark molasses. Toasted wheat bread with burnt caramel. Slight hints of dark fruit. Mild alcohol presence. Good solid medium body. Not as thick as I was expecting, from reputation or from the look of it. It’s pretty smooth, though. Very tasty and easy to drink. This 12oz bottle is nice, but I think I’d like the bomber size better. It goes down smooth. Need to find a couple of these to age for a year or two, as I think it would benefit this beer greatly.

Bottle. Pours black with an attractively fluffy tan head. The aroma also quite good; coffee, bitter chocolate and malts. Tastes of the same, in addition to the hops and yeast, maybe some licorice. With wonderful beers like these, Stone is quickly becoming my favorite American craft brewery.

[bomber - 2006] Black pour with a mild tan head - not much carbonation - decent lacing. Aroma of roasty malt a bit of licorice and some alcohol on the nose. It’s a heavy beer over the tongue, rich, sweet but hot.

This is a great imperial stout. Pours dark with nice retention. Roasted malt and coffee hits it off. It really is better the warmer it gets, I love this beer!!

Fantastic Russian Imperial Stout. Gorgeous notes of heavy malt, chocolate, coffee, black liquerish and caramel. Poured into a Youngs pint glass. Killer head, the head evens to the end of the glass and builds up. Really cool. I like this. It is also a thick creamy head although there is not much to it. Taste is hoppy, malty, yeasty in abundance. Like someone put 300% the normal allocation lots. The taste is smooth; creamy, chocolatey almost like chocolate brownie. There are German black liquerish notes too. The real liquerish if you ask me. The hard style. I can also sense caramel and marzepan. A fantastic beer. Awesome for the winter and one to age. Colour pour is black thick oozing tar. This is a fantastic premium beer. The warmth you get after every sip is second to none. An old English ale style warmth so heads up for managing that. I’m trying to descirbe this but it is a powerful beverage. Alcohol is 10.5%abv but I feel I could drink a few of these. I can never thank the Rake people enough for providing me with Stone. I love stout and this is the REAL DEAL. Thank you, Stone. A killer if not sessionable beer. Enjoy it with pork; beef, sausages and extrremely strong cheese. Oh love the story notes. More breweries should take note. Seek out and store. This should age well indeed.