The Duck-Rabbit Rabid Duck Russian Imperial Stout

Brewed by The Duck-Rabbit Craft Brewery
Style: Imperial Stout
Farmville, North Carolina USA

(Bottle (best by 1/08) via trade with <A HREF=http://www.ratebeer.com/ViewUser.asp?UserID=3 target=blank>Ty5592, thanks Ty!, cellared for 10 mos. after trade) Pours very dark brown, close to opaque. One finger of rather soft tan head recedes to a thin covering with more around edges. Aroma of chocolate, raisins, coffee, molasses, perhaps vanilla or wood. Oddly the aroma kind of died after the head receded. Mouthfeel is medium-full, fairly sturdy for the style. Flavor is mostly chocolatey along with coffee roast and raisin-y sweetness. Perhaps some light grape. Quite a bit of grassiness in finish. Lingering bitter coffee/chocolate aftertaste. Quite good with a bit of complexity but grassiness deters. Alcohol well-integrated.

12oz - Aroma of dark chocolate, vanilla, alcohol and burnt malts. Pours black with a medium brown head and great lacing. Flavor is not as complex as aroma with the burnt malts giving it an ashy and dusty taste that overpowers much of the better flavors. The chocolate and vanilla do show up eventually but not enough to redeem any points. Palate is dry and sticky. This is good, but doesn’t compete with the plethora of RIS’s out there.

From a 12oz Bottle. Enjoy by date of 01/08. Consumed in 01/08. Mostly transparent, dark black colored pour with a thick finger of creamy tan head. Fairly straightforward roasted malt aroma supplemented by a piney hop bitterness. There are some vanilla wafer melanoidins and gentle caramel mid-malt characters to fill it out a bit more. Medium bodied, moderate carbonation level with a gentle prickle on the tongue. Not bad, but the mouthfeel is a bit on the thin side for an imperial stout. Additionally, there is a small amount of oxidation present in this beer too, not surprising considering the closeness in proximity to the best by date at consumption, but still disappointing. A bit cardboardy and thin rather than fruity or port-like. Flavors of piney hops, roast coffee, and a bit of a dry leathery mid-malt. Gets increasingly roasty toward the finish, leaving a layer of chocolate and char to linger in the final smack.

Bottle. Pours inky black with a smallish brown colored head. Aroma is bittersweet chocolate, coffee, molasses. Flavor is roast, chocolate, toffee, coffee. Palate is full bodied, mildly carbonated, finishes bitter and warming. Very nice.

Sampled many times most recently courtesy of Capt. Cougar. Poured a thick black body with a huge brown froth. The aroma is big star anise, cloves, and dandilions. Flavors are black licorice, cloves, orange peel, floral hops, and a cokkie-like yeast.

Writing this up makes me think of their baltic porter and my last experience with it.... It was so friggin good. Almost 5.0 worthy. This however was not that. Not bad though. Dark black pour with small tan head. Notes of roasted malt, more hop then one might expect from a stout, and some alchohol leaking through. Chocolate is most dominate while consuming, doesnt go out of its to be more then an average Imperial stout, but is sitll quite solid.

Bottle thanks to Axilla for sharing. Poured black with a thick tan head. Aroma was of anis, and malty bitterness. Taste is unlike all Imperial stouts I’ve ever had. Flavors of flowers, anis, and mild alcohol burn. Finish was dry and slightly bitter. I’d like to try again.

Appears black in the glass with a light mocha colored head that retains pretty well. Roasted charcoal aromas paired with some earthy hoppiness, booze, and vinous smells. Taste begins quite ashy and earthy, maybe a bit vegetal too. It does transform into sweeter caramel flavors as it sits on the tongue, with a roasty finish, but doesn’t start off good and finishes rather weak. I think I also got some lactose and cherry flavored Tootsie-Pop flavors too. Nice thick, full body, but it is too carbonated, which takes a way a little. This just seemed to be missing a lot for me, maybe I’ll need to visit this one again sometime.