The Dark Russian
Blue Mountain Brewery

Beer Geek Stats
From:
Blue Mountain Brewery
 
Virginia, United States
Style:
Russian Imperial Stout
ABV:
8.5%
Score:
Needs more ratings
Avg:
3.96 | pDev: 6.57%
Reviews:
5
Ratings:
7
Status:
Retired
Rated:
Jul 09, 2014
Added:
Sep 29, 2008
Wants:
  0
Gots:
  1
No description / notes.
Recent ratings and reviews.
Ratings by IBUnit63:
Photo of IBUnit63
Reviewed by IBUnit63 from Massachusetts

4.18/5  rDev +5.6%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
At the brewery in Afton VA...into a pint glass.

Excellent full-finger ginger-maple head. Pour clears nicely to reveal a slightly opaque root-beer colored body. Tight and nicely presented. 4.5

Good, grassy bitter hop profile, but there's more to it. A healthy portion of sweet chocolate malt with only a slight hint of caramel booziness. Understated yet profound.

Well, this doesn't lack punch. There is a great creaminess to this with a hint of caramel and alcohol. The patent-ish tannins do pack a wallop and next to the significant hop grass give it quite a raw bitterness at first but it mellows out nicely with warmth. Even a little dark chocolate and fresh ground coffee on the back 9.

This is a palate pleaser...chock full of everything...sweetness, husky malt...hops that even out and blend nicely with dark roasted chocolate tones. Wow.

Since I just knocked off this pint in about 10 minutes I say it's drinkable as hell. By no means over the top but this is very well-done.
Apr 04, 2009
More User Ratings:
 
 
Rated: 4 by ncaudle from Virginia

Oct 13, 2012
Photo of Kegatron
Reviewed by Kegatron from Pennsylvania

3.86/5  rDev -2.5%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4
On nitro-tap at Blue Mountain Brewery (Afton, VA) on 4/16/09. Served in a 10 oz goblet.

Pours a nice solid black at the top, getting progressively lighter until it hits a ruby red at the bottom of the glass. A finger of rigid mocha colored head sits on top, naturally staying thick and creamy when swirled, and absolutely drenching the sides of the glass with rich lace. The aroma has a big chocolate sweetness to it, along with notes of zippy coffee, floral hops, and a fruity twang. A deep underlying layer of roasted malts glides underneath, as does a light waft of warmth.

The taste is roasted chocolate malts and coffee up front that then blends into some sweeter tangy tones of caramel and dark fruits. Hops and deep roasted bitterness pull up the back, just SMOTHERING the palate with a dry and burnt feel. The mouthfeel is medium to fuller bodied with an extremely slick and creamy feel from the nitro that just spreads out in the mouth. Maybe a bit too easy and creamy. I'm getting some light warmth in the profile but for the most part the ABV is fairly undetectable (I guess not too much of a shocker considering that this is only 8.5% ABV).

This was a fairly solid Imperial Stout, that while not overly complex, still possessed the type of huge roastiness that I tend to enjoy in the style. Plus it was cool to get to try the base for the Dark Hollow immediately before imbiding in a glass of that as well. My only complaint, and one that other reviewers have mentioned, is that I feel they are doing these bigger Stouts a disservice serving them on nitro. I'd like a little better look at these beers flavors and body without a forced smoothness to them.
Apr 21, 2009
Photo of joe1510
Reviewed by joe1510 from Illinois

3.39/5  rDev -14.4%
look: 5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
Snifter
$4.00
Blue Mountain

This RIS arrived at my table with a creamy dense beige head that lasted forever and left thick drink lines after each sip. Sheet lacing was left between each history line. Beneath the everlasting nitro head was a midnight black body that didn't allow a hint of light to shine through. I love the appearance of nitro beer and this one was done just right.

The second I stuck my nose in the glass I was hit by heavily roasted malts. The aroma on this beer is pretty straightforward. These deeply roasted malts are front and center but I get an underlying current of burnt rubber and alcohol fumes. The last two aren't all that strong but they are present enough to drop this beers score a notch.

The hot rubber came across even more on the tongue but it actually managed to grow on me as I drank, not much but enough to keep me drinking. The heavily roasted malts lead the way again with a drizzling of molasses. This RIS is just too one dimensional; where's the coffee, dark fruits, or chocolate. The alcohol isn't quite hot but the fumes do rise through the nose.

I'm not a big fan of the mouthfeel on nitro beers and especially on big stouts like this. I want a big heavy oily mouthfeel but what I got was creamy and too airy/light for my liking. I think Blue Mountain is doing this beer a disservice by putting it on nitro.

Although at first I was unsure if I liked this beer or not it did grow on me throughout the glass and I actually found myself drinking it pretty quickly.

I was looking forward to giving this beer a try when I noticed it on tap and found out it was the base beer for Dark Hollow, I was a little disappointed. There's not much complexity and the nitro dumbs this beer down.
Oct 21, 2008
Photo of CrellMoset
Reviewed by CrellMoset from Virginia

4.08/5  rDev +3%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4
79 IBUs and 8.5% abv, this is the Blue Mountain Dark Hollow Stout ... minus the bourbon-barrel aging. They apparently had 50 gallons of it that wouldn't quite fit into the barrels they had lying around, so, hell, they just decided to serve it up. Nothing wrong with that. Enjoyed w/ proteus93 at the brewery, but he beat me to posting - nothing wrong with that either!

Appearance: Well the nitro-tap sort of adds to this, but I'm sure it'd look amazing anyway. Perfect nitro-tap retention - literally, I ordered this simultaneously with another beer because I arrived pretty close to closing time and didn't want to make anyone wait, and after I'd finished the entirety of the other beer, the head on this one was still largely intact - of a choco-tan head sitting atop a perfectly-black bodied beer. The lacing is really great, too, as is to be expected - sticky sheets, splotchy islands, fingers, all sorts of crazy lacing goodness. Nitro-tap can sure cover up a lot.

Aroma: Tons of coffee, way more so than in the Dark Hollow, which is very interesting. Perhaps the barrel-aging lets that mellow out a little, or perhaps the bourbon/woody notes help to mask it. Either way, it's an earthy, full-roasted coffee note, fairly pungent, and intermingles with light char and faint smoke, some other toasty, bready, crisp malts, and a healthy dose of dark chocolate.

Taste: Very similar to the nose, and that's a good thing. Coffee is still the dominant player here, with a healthy dose of all the above - baker's chocolate, smoke, hints of darkened, burnt malts - but also (as is pointed out below) a decent hop profile, which imparts a spicy herbal note that melds well with the toasted astringencies and lends a rounded bitterness to the body.

Mouthfeel: How much of this is nitro and how much is the beer is up for debate, but without reading into it too much, fantastic. It's creamy and milky, wonderfully smooth, and - while a little thin for my liking - is just a fantastic-feeling beer.

Drinkability: 8.5% abv isn't high for an RIS by any stretch (my top-scoring beer of all-time was almost twice that), and so I can't knock the drinkability here for alcohol strength. This is a solid all-around brew, and I'm very glad I got a chance to try it - I've always been a fan of the Dark Hollow and am eagerly awaiting the re-release of batch #3 at the brewery this coming month.
Sep 29, 2008
Photo of Proteus93
Reviewed by Proteus93 from Virginia

4.2/5  rDev +6.1%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4
This is the beer that goes on to become the Dark Hollow following barreling. They held back 50 gallons back to serve this on draft at the brewery, so it's a real treat. It had been mentioned in an earlier review of the Dark Hollow that 'if aging a beer for 100 days, it would be wise to have a decent beer to start with.' This is it... perhaps things have improved with time, and of course, taste is subjective, but this brew certainly manages 'decent' and more!

A: Pitch black, and thick like motor oil. It was poured into a goblet, and while the dimple at the bottom of such glasses (where the stem meets) will often show a hint of brown through the light, this one maintains a cold darkness. Thanks to the nitro-tap, the head is particularly creamy and full - it looks heavy and lingers forever, almost as if to be standing proud.

S: Soft, super creamy dark roast / espresso aromas. A massive roasted malt scent pairs with it.

T: Good Lord, there are some big coffee-like flavours, with hints of baker's chocolate. Like a strong, iced mocha, and quite nice. As it warms, the chocolate flavours become a little more apparent. There's a hoppiness there, too, which is a nice touch - a rather big 79 IBUs - nice to see in these times!

M + D: Smooth and rich. Almost no carbonation noted... just a big, soft, and creamy body. It's almost like velvet. A little lower in alcohol than the Dark Hollow tends to be, so that is perhaps a hint towards a new trend that we will see. Still, it's a big 8.5, so not skimpy by any means. Excellent beer.
Sep 29, 2008
The Dark Russian from Blue Mountain Brewery
Beer rating: 3.96 out of 5 with 7 ratings