Old Rasputin - North Coast Brewing Company

This week’s beer comes from, in my opinion, the strongest and most abusive style out there; the Russian Imperial Stout. This style combines a very strong and forward roasted malt presence with high bitterness and alcohol content. One word of caution, however; This style will tend to blow your palate for an hour or two, so don’t try sipping this while eating some delicately balanced dish with exotic spices, because you aren’t going to taste the food. The style itself is fairly old, as it was invented in the 1700s for export from England to the court of Catherine the Great, Tzar of Russia.

The beer in question is Old Rasputin from North Coast Brewing Company. This brewery was founded in 1998 in Fort Bragg, California, but quickly became well known in the American microbrew community for their consistently high quality products. Mark Ruedrich currently serves as brew master and has won numerous national and international awards, including two gold and one silver medals at the 2010 World Beer Championship. North Coast has also revived the Acme brand name, bottling a California Pale ale and an India Pale Ale under this historic label.

The proper glassware for this beer is a snifter or tulip, since the wide bowl and tapered neck will tend to trap and concentrate the aroma of this beer. As poor college students, however, most of us don’t exactly have snifters laying around from all the cognac we drink, so we improvise; Wine glasses work just as well, and in a pinch a pint glass is just fine. Food pairings for this beer require something strong enough to cut through the heavy taste of the beer. Fried foods will serve the purpose quite well, as will red meats such as a good burger or steak, or a strong cheese. This beer can also pair well with heavier deserts, such as cheesecake, tiramisu or coffee ice cream. Personally, I’d opt for a bacon and blue cheese burger with a side of fries, but I don’t have much of a sweet tooth either.

This beer poured an opaque black, blocking all light coming through my glass except at the very edges, which had a reddish hue. The head was a light brown color, although other examples of this style can be even darker. The head level and retention were both surprisingly low, quickly dissipating with very little lacing, which is typical of this style. The aroma was quite complex, although dominated by a roasted malt character. There were some hints of sweetness, but more pronounced were both coffee and chocolate notes. Aroma hops and dark fruit scents are not out of place with this style, but I did not notice any in this particular beer. The beer had a full body, which was offset with a moderately high level of carbonation; many other examples tend to be a little lower in carbonation and fuller in body, but this was not particularly out of place. The most obvious taste in this beer is a roasted maltiness, stronger than Guinness while at the same time lacking the burnt character that I usually associate with stouts. There were not any hot alcohol flavors, and the aftertaste of this beer is quite bitter and fairly dry. Overall, while this beer may not have been balanced, it was surprising smooth.

I actually enjoyed this beer a lot more than other examples of the style, mainly because of the smoothness, and I highly recommend it if you want to try the Russian Imperial Stout style. This being said, however, a final word of caution is in order; this is a strong beer, both in taste and alcohol, so it should be served at an appropriate time and place if you want to appreciate it.

Price: $5.50

Size: 12 oz

ABV: 9.0%

Look: 4/5

Smell: 4.5/5

Taste: 4/5

Mouthfeel: 4/5