Grand River Russian Gun Imperial Stout

Brewed by Grand River Brewing
Style: Imperial Stout
Cambridge, Canada

Serve in Snifter

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Pours dark brown with a light brown head. Smells of roasted malt, chocolate, some ligh spice. Tastes of chocolate, some dark fruit, roasted malt, pepper, balanced light bitterness. Nice.

500 mL bottle. Dark chestnut brown with a nice beige head. Nice aroma has lots of herbal hops, but not much of the roast you’d expect to find in a stout. Smells very fresh. This one needs to be allowed to warm a bit to allow the malt to make an appearance. Still a little light on the roast, malt is pretty straight-forward, and body is a little thin. Having said that, there is a very nice hop flavour and bitterness, and some chocolate and candied fruit sweetness, and a surprisingly dry finish. Not a typical IS; more of a hopped up Imperial Porter. I’m curious to see what some age will do for this one.

Bottle 500 ml at Volo
Appearance: dark almost black, mid plus creamy dark tanned head.
Nose: dark malt , light hint of citrus, creamy filler. Mid intensity. Pleasant with late roasty finish.7+
Flavor/Palate : Full bodied. Roasty, some sweet fruit with heavy dark malty feel (roast at edge). Creamy palate paired with long lasting dark bitterness. Baltic Porter hints are welcome. Very neat , targeted brew. It does hit the spot. Despite its young age alcohol very smooth. Bonus item: retro 80s styled 500ml polish bottle.

Cask at Volo. Pours a very dark brown, almost black, with an average size bubbly lasting tan head. Nice aroma, right on style! Sweet, roasty and malty along with molasses, light hops and dark fruit. Dry, malty flavour with lots of alcohol -- I think this would be great on tap, on cask it’s just ’pretty good’. Medium bodied. Quite boozy, this is almost hard to drink but it’s still good. I will definitely revisit this in the bottle or on tap and rerate it.

500ml Bottle. Bottled yesterday. Typical imperial stout(chocolate, coffee etc.), but this one has wonderfully strong roasted barley taste.. nearly a charcoal/bbq flavour. You can taste the 9% abv, but it mingles nicely with the other flavours. Very well balanced. I think this replaces St. Ambroise Oatmeal Stout for my favourite Canadian stout. Good job Rob!

UPDATED: JUN 30, 2009 I waited to do this review until I sampled this both on tap and bottled. There is a difference and I have to say when this is fresh I prefer the bottled version.>>>>>>> Appearance Served at 45deg.F this pours a light-defying black ale in the thistle with a creamy 2 finger mocha colored cap. This cap reduces to about 1 finger and lasts the drink. Moderate carbonation.>>>>>>> Aroma: Coca, roasty cereal husks, burnt toffee, figs and leafy hops...a light earthiness very nice.>>>>>>>> Flavor profile: Front end has a rich flood of malty toffee tastes mingling with dried fruits and cocoa.....mid palate some complexity as the balance starts; cherry pipe tobacco, nuts, spice and dried fruit riding just above the lush bittering hops....finishes cocoa-bitter and roasty...great stuff!>>>>>>>> cha and impression: Rich oleophilic mouth feel, massive malt spine, toasty-toffee-bitter profile. One of the best domestic RISs I’ve tasted. Rich,flavourful, well balanced, satisfying. ......too bad a few kegs could not be cold stored and sampled mid winter 2010 as I plan to do with some of the bottles I stored.

On tap at Chancey Smith’s in London, ON- Deep opaque black, darker than motor oil. Nice fluffy and frothy mocha cap that laced and lasted over an hour as I sipped this beast. In the nose, lots of espresso, dark chocolate, roasted malts, molasses, and as it warms, there is a bit of vanilla. Tastes roasty, toasty malts, vanilla, espresso, dark chocolate and towards the end, a touch of minty hops that adds to the bitterness in the finish. Not at all boozy, and quite dry and bitter in the finish. At 9%, I sipped it, but it was a delicious beer that hid its alcohol well, and at times I wanted to take larger sips. Another solid brew from these guys.

Cask. At Volo. Black pour, with a large frothy lasting tan head. Sweet, boozy burnt molasses aroma, slightly herbal, with treacle and some tart cherry. Taste - again, somewhat boozy - simple, burnt, lightly herbal, treacly but not too sweet - seems a bit wan, actually. Slick, velvety mouthfeel, not too boozy ultimately, finishes surprisingly quickly. A solid stout, not spectacular, it could be thicker-bodied.

UPDATED: DEC 27, 2011 500ml bottle from the brewery. aroma of caramel, roasted malts, hops and a touch of alcohol. the flavour is similar. the body is medium. some complexity grows as you drink. dry finish that isnt common for the style. actually the body and finish remind me of both stuise and mikkeller stouts but this one doesnt have the candied sugar in the malt bill. a good imperial stout but not the best ive had/////////////////////2011 vintage is the first bad one, smoky fermentation phenols, burnt plastic, rough bitterness, really messy

500mL bottle from the brewery. Really cool image on the bottle of a Russian Cannon. Pours an almost completely opaque dark brown witha small tan coloured head. The aroma is very typical Imperial Stout charactertistics, nice GR malts with signatue hops, no booze, very inviting actually. The flavour follows suit nicely, hitting all the classic elements of a good Imperial Stout, coffee, roasted malts, dark chocolate, cocoa powder, with a nice hop presence that you might almost miss. Really nice malt structure here, and the palate is rich and full but nice and soft for a 9% beer. A bit of a chalky feeling comes out as this warms which I kind of like. And no gross soy sauce! Yeah! I’m giving this a high rating for the following reason: I think many here are under-rating it due to high expectations both of this brewery and this style based on many American examples. There is nothing particularly unique about this Imperial Stout except for a few small GR characteristics, but for what it is, a genuine Ontario-brewed Imperial Stout, this is a remarkable acheivment. Compare it to every other IS ever brewed in this province as a guideline, not what brewers in another country have/are doing. It’s a very nice, classic Imperial Stout that goes down pretty easy.