Beer 171/365 – Stone Russian Imperial Stout

Style: Russian Imperial Stout

ABV: 10.5%

Purchased at: 3 Sons Dogs N Suds – Wexford PA

What makes this beer different: A nice punch of alcohol and chocolate, but perfect balance

Will I be drinking this again: Absolutely

Grade: A

4/28/2010: Imperial Stouts are my favorite style, so its I am a little bit pissed at myself for not trying this a bit earlier in life. This also is going to be one of my last “ageable” beers I will be drinking for awhile. I recently organized the pile off beer I had sitting on my dining room table into beers that can and cannot be aged. Turns out I have about 40 non-ageable (sp?) beers in the stash, so I am going to try and power through those ASAP.

This smells like your typical RIS with a bit more chocolate. The beer pours out super thick and dark as night. The taste is almost perfect. Its a dark malt bomb with chocolate leading the way, and that slight alcohol punch you associate with a Russian Imperial. A little bit of hop bite makes an appearance also. Personally I like when a stout punches you in the tongue with some alcohol, but just enough to let you know its the boss. This bottle was fresh, so I could imagine with maybe a year of age this would be a A+.

Picture of the day: This cat is pretty sneaky.