Winter Stout (Russian Imperial Stout)
The St. George Brewing Company

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From winter brew tasting notes (2010): Poured a dark brown color with a moderate to large frothy brown head that lasted with good lacing. Moderate to heavy toasted chocolate, dark grape skin aroma. Medium to heavy bittersweet toasted malt and tannic flavor with a medium to heavy sweet finish of moderate to long duration. Full body with a smooth texture and flat carbonation. This is a very good complex beer, but does not put together for me when comparing against the likes of better winter RIS styles.

Rich and sweet and heavy where I question my ability to get to the bottom of the glass. I'd guess a fg of 1.030 or more. A little cherry, licorice, and smoke on heavy malf base. Reminds me of a wee heavy more than an ris. Just more black than you would find in that style. Feeling type 2 diabetes setting in.

Beer is black with kind of a pathetic head. No lacing, low carbonation. Eh....

Aroma is bitter...coffee bitter with roasted grains.

Beer is not hot, as I was expecting but for an RIS it is quite thin. Really thin in fact. There are some nice sweet malt flavors in the front but not as biscuit-like as they probably should be. The finishing bitterness from coffee and chocolate and roast is quite strong. It hides the 7% well and that's about the only thing I can say this did well.

A: Pours a dark brown black color with a very thick dark tan head that stick around and leaves some decent lacing.

S: Slight smells of roasted malts and chocolate. Not a very distinguished flavor.

T: Starts with a very slight sweet taste, maybe some semi sweet chocolate. The flavor fades into a roasted malts and bitter, almost coffee flavor. Nice balance of sweet to bitter and leaves a very distinct bitter aftertaste.

M: Realtively thin beer. I was expecting a much thicker beer for an imperial stout.

D: It's a drinkable beer. Pretty tasty Russian, and I would definitly have another.

Overall: Overall the beer was pretty good. Nice balance of sweet and bitter flavor with notes of chocolate, malts, and coffee. Leaves a very distinct bitter aftertaste, that I think many hop lovers would appreciate.

On tap at The Brickskeller during an event.

Pours a deep, dark color bordering on black. Thin tan head eventually fades into a few bubbles atop the beer. The nose brings some roasted character as well as a bit of chocolate and coffee. Everything gels pretty well.

The flavor isn't quite as complex and integrated as the nose, falling just a bit flat. There are some coffee, chocolate, and roasted malt notes, though they never seem to find that cohesion point and really mesh. The mouthfeel is somewhat full but a bit thin for the style, though it works with the flavors and makes it quite drinkable. A 7.6% RIS is something I could definitely handle more often than the typical booze bomb.

Poured basicly dark brown with orange hue at bottom of the mug. Creamy inch thick head. Did not ecspecially enjoy the mouthfeel or the after taste, but the flavor was exceptional. Did not feel very heavy, but definitely warmed me up. Great lacing that stayed on the glass almost all the way until I was finshed with the 3 pint mug.

Bomber.

Pours just about black with a one finger tan head and decent lacing.

The aroma is roast, chocolate, dark fruits, anise, and a little sweet caramel.

The flavor is sweet caramel and chocolatey malts, molasses, anise, black cherries, and metallic notes.

Medium full bodied and smooth with soft carbonation.

A solid but not great imperial stout. Hard to be too impressed after having almost 200 in the style I guess.

A - black all through. Tall brown creamy head.

S - heavy malts and chocolate but bitterness in the finish.

T - strong malts and fruit, prune and raisins. Bitterness as if from a dark chocolate. Deep, but not exactly good.

M - medium coating with a light tingle on both the sides of the tongue and the top back of the throat.

D - the flavor is a bit to bitter and just not good enough to have more than one.

Pours a deep black with mocha head. Faint hint of malt and chocolate in the nose, but nothing astounding. Decent lacing.

The taste is decent, although I do not consider it a traditional Russian Imperial Stout. Thin body. Notes of roasted malts, coffee, and chocolate. Long story short, this is actually a session RIS if I ever did come across one. To use simile, it was like a size 8 woman in a full-figured woman's clothing. I am going to be able to polish this off all by myself without any problems. It might be better to continue marketing it as a Winter Stout rather than a RIS. Or I have a serious drinking problem.

Certainly not bad -- I did enjoy drinking it. However, a bit more body and forward flavors would round out the profile for the style.

This might go well with a grilled steak. It might also be good material for a sauce reduction to use on various red meats.

Poured into snifter.

This is pretty dark. Bubbles up a dark tan, cocoa-powder head of 3 fingers. Retention holds for a sip or two before all that remains is a lazy and loose collar around the ring of the glass. No lacing at all.

Smell has an astringent alcohol-- certainly a bit of a flaw. Especially for only being 7%! Roasted chocolate, black, and crystal malts show up... A bit underdressed for the occasion. This beer needed a higher OG.
The beer is overly carbonated and a bit thin. If I didn't KNOW this was an RIS, I would certainly not guess it.

The beer has some sweetness up front, but dries out through the middle--- and finishes dry. A slight note of black licorice seems to creep in. Very roasty malts. The anise finish hurts the overall mark for the taste. The astringent booze doesn't help either.

Overall... This is not a good RIS. This would be a solid American Stout... Sadly, the label says RIS! It makes an attempt to hit the right notes, but much like my tone-deaf wife, we suffer for it. Is this awful? No. Undrinkable? No. But is it anywhere near where I'd like to see it.