Rasputin Laphroaig BA
Brouwerij De Molen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

330 mL bottle poured into a snifter. Bottled 8/28/2012.

Appearance - Pours with a nice mocha head. Good retention. Thick collar.

Smell - Tons of peaty Scotch. Bitter chocolate and smoke. Nice.

Taste - Sweeter, slight fruitiness that fades to scotch immediately. Bitter and smokey. Deep chocolate flavor.

Mouthfeel - Way too carbonated. Tough to distinguish flavors. Never boozy though.

Overall - Great barrel. Blends very well with the base. Doesn't hurt that I love Islay Scotch. Just too much carbonation.

 

330 ml bottle, bottled on August 28, 2012. Served in a snifter, the beer pours dark brown with pretty much no head at all. Not much lacing, either. I like the aroma a lot, it smells like peated whisky (well, Laphroaig), wood, smoke/ash, and some iodine. Taste is mostly like the aroma, but there's also a bit of licorice noticeable. But this brew is all about the peat and whisky. Mouthfeel/body is medium, it's on the thinner side for a stout with very low carbonation. At the same time, it's also a bit slick and coating. I liked this brew (just because of the smell and taste), but then I also like peaty Scotch Whisky. If you're not into that, then you probably won't like this.

 

Brewed for the 2012 BOREFTS festival at De Molen in Bodegraven. Finally getting around to reviewing the bottle I picked up at the shop that day.

From a bottle into a snifter
Bottled 28 August 2012

APPEARANCE: Pours out a really transparent light brown, more so than other Rasputin batches, and yields a cascading, very thin and bubbly, off-white head that quickly vanishes. A faint, swirly wisp and bubbly ring remain. Transparent bistre brown body with no carbonation evident. A ring remains with touches of lacing down the glass. Just too thin and light for the style, and the head doesn't help either.

SMELL: Lots of laphroaig barrel on this one, with peat and earthy tones, smoky notes, and some oak. Light notes of milk chocolate and licorice as well. The barrel is nice, though there is little stout to speak of.

TASTE: Some decent peat and earth flavors up front, with oak and milk chocolate from the barrel at the swallow. Bolder laphroaig finish with smoky peat, oak, light licorice notes and some chocolate. Decent barrel flavors here, though the stout is not big enough to make this what it could be.

PALATE: Slightly thinner body with very modest levels of carbonation. Just above flat. Syrupy and slick on the palate, goes down fine and finishes slightly sticky. Smooth enough, but somewhat thin and lifeless. A touch more carbonation would help for sure.

OVERALL: The barrel on this one is nice for sure, but the stout just isn't that great. Not enough character in the base beer, unfortunately. The look and feel suffered from insufficient carbonation as well. A decent drink to be sure, but this one really makes me wish they'd just scrap Rasputin and barrel age Hel & Verdoemenis all the time instead. Put your first rate stout into barrels. This could have been so much more.