REVIEW: Stone Imperial Russian Stout

I missed out on this one last year. Not that I didn't see it around at liquor stores and bottle shops, but for whatever reason, I wasn't feeling in the mood for a giant imperial stout when this hit stores last spring. Stone's IRS comes out every April, which is usually a time when I'm starting to think about pale ales, saison's, and such. Not big hearty stouts. Perhaps this is sort of the same thing I noticed when I talked about Great Divide's Wolfgang. A big hearty doppelbock that came out in June. Sort of counter-programming to all of the lighter spring-summer seasonals on the shelves. But anyway, what we have here, is a 10.6% 60 IBU beast of an imperial stout. Let's get into it. To the beer!

Imperial Russian Stout oozes out of the bottle as an inky, syrupy, absolutely opaque black. Not one iota of light is passing through this glass. It's topped by two fingers of dense, finely bubbled mocha colored head that hung around quite a while and left rings of lacing on the way down.

Intense aromas of roasty malts lend robust notes of coffee and dark chocolate. Quite a bit of black licorice in there as well as some boozy notes. Very hearty, very big.

IRS is incredibly full bodied and very creamy. Intense robust notes notes of roasty dark chocolate and coffee dominate the palate. a bit of that licorice/ anise comes in there as well to lend some complexity. For as big, and bold, and brash as all of the flavors are in this beer, and considering the hefty body and ABV, this is an astonishingly drinkable beer. All of those outsized malt flavors are countered by a strong bitterness that lingers on through the finish.

I really liked this one. Tons of massive roasty malt flavors but enough strong bitterness to keep things very drinkable. If big stouts are your thing give this one a look. Also, thankfully, it's quite affordable. One more note, if you're familiar with how stone does some of their limited release beers, especially on years that end in an odd number, you might have an idea of something we'll be checking out later in the week.

HD