Stone Imperial Russian Stout (Bourbon)

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

Serve in Snifter

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1L shared with kmweaver. Thanks! Pours brown with a light brown head. Smells of oak, bourbon, booze, some sweet malt. Tastes oaky with a nice compliment of broubon, sweet malt and an underlying touch of bitterness.

Denver Rare Beer Tasting. Stranahans barrels. Black appearance with a tiny, dark brown head. Sweet caramel, toffee, whiskey, oak, vanilla, dark chocolate malty aroma. Low carbonation. Roasty dark chocolate, caramel, toffee, vanilla, woody, whiskey flavor. I’m not too impressed.

Objectively speaking: From a 1L growler brought back by François. Thanks! Another bourbon barrel aged imperial stout who uses the powerful weapon that rarity is against Ratebeer’s Bayesian scale!
I like: No annoying vegetal (spent grain, corn syrup) character from the barrel, more like pure wood and vanilla components. Rather rich body for a beer that went through a barrel, no apparent thinning. Roastiness manages to pass through the bourbon. No cloying factor.
I dislike: It’s hard to figure out what sets it apart from its concurrents enough to justify a current 4.4 average. No bottles available to age up the edges (Some flavours head in totally opposite directions, namely the bitterness). Not very balanced as this stage (still intensely bourbony) and to me, not superior to their regular impy.

Sample on Day 3 of the Aces & Ales Strong Beer Festival on 08/14/2011. The beer is a brownish-black color with a thin tan head that evaporates to an outer ring quickly. Spots and strings of lacing on the glass. Aroma of bourbon, roasted malt and cocoa. Medium to full body with a boozy character and flavors of dark malts, bittersweet chocolate and vanilla. The finish is oaky bourbon with a malty aftertaste. Good beer throughout.

Beer number two for me at GABF 2012. This 2008 vintage pours black with a mocha colored head of foam with sort of tan looking swirls here and there. The aroma is rich, sweet, smooth and bourbony to go along with dark roasted malts and a sense of spicy black licorice in the background. The taste is similar with a solid degree of smooth bourbon surrounded thinly by dark roasted malts and a pleasing sense of chocolate. This is rich and sweet and not fully bourbony and has a pleasing balance.

Tap at Alewife Baltimore for Stone Total Tap Takeover. Poured near ink black with ruby highlights. Tan bubbles cling onto the sides of the glass but no head forms. Aroma is beautiful buttery bourbon, coconut, vanilla, oak, rich smokiness. Taste is a giant smack in the face of unsweetened, bitter chocolate, smoked malt, hot bourbon moving very quickly to silky chocolate, coconut, vanilla ice cream. Palate goes from soft to chalky and bitter cacao powder. About six seconds after tasting this I knew exactly why it is in the ratebeer Top 20. Everything is there: the aroma, the body, the palate. It is like Bourbon Country Stout with a little less richness and less of a superlative palate.

Pouring at session one of EBF in Boston. Pours a viscous black with a thin tan head. Bourbon, vanilla, candy, chocolate. Smoky roast, more bourbon. Big roast and some sweetness before a big roast bitterness on the finish with more subtle cocoa.

UPDATED: FEB 12, 2009 In short: A brutal sipper. Rudimentary but effective extra-strong bourbon intensive Imperial Stout. A good but very much overrated sipper.
How: From a fresh 1L growler brought back from the brewery by Francois Mtl. Drank only a few days after the growler was filled. Shared on the “Stone-Bourbon-Barrel-RIS-Hype-And-Disappointment” tasting session with the Montreal crew.
The look: Black body with a tan ring of foam
In long: Lots and lots of of barrels on the nose and taste. Attack of alcohol, bourbon, very roasted malts (slight burnt sensation) and thick molasses ending abruptly with sharp bite of bitterness and alcohol. Alcohol feels like 15%. This is a brutal sipper with very little complexity. Initial impression was 3.9 but after drinking more strong beers at the tasting session it kept going down. The absurdly high ratings has more to do with rarity than quality. This beer has a lot of alcohol, it’s Bourbon Barrel Aged and more importantly it’s rare. When a beer has those three qualities ratebeer turns into the music Billboard and the top-50 has nothing to do with quality.

Hand bottle in a trade, consumed immediately. Black with a thin lacing. Soy, maple, bourbon, chocolate with a bitter hop roast y ness about it. 3.9 overall, but less for its style.

2007 PPSAF (Oaked IRS): Opapue with small lasting tan head and spotty lace. The aroma has notes of liquorice, prune, coffee, chocolate, herbs, light oak and vanilla, hint of smoke. <P> The taste has nice sweet malt notes over woody and mild bitterness. The finish has a hint of smoke and spice. The mouth feel is oily and lush with an aggressive tone. This really rocks!