Vokzal Russian Stout
Twisted Rail Brewing Company

5 oz pour on tap at the Canandaigua location. Dark, viscous appearance: check. Espresso: check. Chocolate: check. Sweet, cloying mouthfeel: check. Excessive booziness: check. Overall it's unbalanced and I didn't finish the 5 oz pour.

 

 

 

2/18/17 I'm drinking the Imperial Stout w 8.5 abv. ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS LOCAL BEER. Really on point R.I.S.

top notch

 

 

 

This beer was served on tap at Twisted Rail Brewing Company in Canandaigua, New York. It arrived in a flare house tasting glass, showing a brownish soot coloring, and sporting a one finger head of snowy taupe colored foam. This retained well, leaving harsh ridges of lacing around the glass as it crept away. No haze or sediment was noted, and carbonation appeared to be active. The nose filled with a symphony of bitterly roasted black, coffee, and chocolate malts, raw barley, whole espresso beans, biting carob vegetals, copper, cloven and plastic phenols, light banana bread esters, spicy peppery ethanol, dried straw, mild grassy and floral hoppiness, Styrofoam, and raw honey. The flavoring included a surprising soapy hoppiness off the top, mixing with heavily smoked and roasted chocolate and coffee maltiness, campfire char, carrot and parsnip vegetals, barnyard straw dryness, molasses, tinny metallics, warmed cedar, dusty book bindings, fruitiness of dried apricot and prunes, dark chocolate syrups, biting chemical wash of engine oil, and fusel booziness. The body was fully medium, and the carbonation was medium. Each sip gave excellent slurp, smack, cream, and froth as an extension of that heady foam. The mouth was left slickly oiled, with inching fiery, astringent dryness. The abv was appropriate, and the beer sipped away nicely.

Overall, we were interested to hear how this brew was named. As this comes from Twisted Rail Brewing Company, they had thought of how to label it uniquely, under their own brand. Subtly and simply, they chose the word “Vokzal”, which translates to “train station” from Russian. Well done gang, very cleaver. What you find from the beer itself is a massively smoked and roasted Russian imperial. This malt component really drives the beer home for us, giving it body, balance, and thrust. There are accompanying notes of sugars and sweetness, but they are there because they kind of have to be, and not for any kind of gimmick or defense. As a well-rounded offering, we were happy to see them flex their guns, and show off a bit of what they can accomplish here.