Imperial Russian Stout
Ridgeway Brewing

From Good Times Oakland, batch 9422.

It pours black with slight hues of red, good retaining head of foam with very good lacing.

The smell is coffee, dark chocolate, roasted malt, toast.

The taste is roasted malt, dark chocolate, coffee, quite bitter though it does have some sweet notes here and there. No sign of any vinous character.

Medium bodied, lowish level of carbonation, I would drink this again.

 

 

2022 vintage; drank 1/5/25 @ the Yarchives.

Opaque dark brown appearance.

A rough pour yielded a small, noisy tan head; strong lacing remained.

Fresh earth, cocoa & faint dark cherry notes in the nose.

Medium thick, creamy mouthfeel.

Fresh earth, cocoa & mild fresh cream flavors.

Earthy with a nice balancing sweetness; this is a phenomenal beer. I'd have another...and another...

Imperial Russian Stout (2022 vintage) – from Ridgeway. Single 330 mL bottle purchased from Riverside Liquors, Grand Rapids, MI, on 21/08/24. Price unknown (Receipt only partially itemized). Reviewed 13/09/24 (Review 3357). Note that I use DD/MM/YY protocol.
Undated bottle, other than 2022 Vintage. Stored at 34 degrees F at home. Served at 55.0 degrees F in a hand washed and dried Jester King snifter. The final temperature was 58.4 degrees F.
Appearance – 4.25
First pour – Deep Amber (SRM 15), Light barely penetrates.
Body – Black (SRM 40), opaque. Under direct light, same. When rear-lite, light barely penetrates, red amber.
Head – Average (Maximum two cm, aggressive center pour), wheat, high density, short retention, leaving a 0.2 – 0.4 cm crown spottily fed by aggressive carbonation, and a mostly complete cap.
Lacing – Fair. High density ring of near microscopic bubbles briefly hangs above the crown before disappearing.
Aroma – 4 – Dark chocolate. No hops, no alcohol (10 % ABV, according to the label).
Flavor – 4.25 – Dark, slightly bitter chocolate, a bit woody but this ameliorates as it warms. Weak alcohol is noticeable on the exhale. No dimethylsulfide or diacetyl. Faint gastric warming.
Palate – 4 – Full; approaching creamy; soft carbonation.
Style: Follows the style guidelines, as condensed by BA.
Final Impression and summation: 4.25

330ml bottle. Label identifies this as '2022 VINTAGE BOTTLE NUMBER 6621'.
Dark brown colored body with a red garnet back lit edge. One finger of khaki colored head, and this becomes a thin cap and ring.
Aroma of dark roasted malts, with raisin and prune, along with a bit of black licorice. Black bread malts. A touch of vanilla.
Taste is sweet, with a strong flavor of stone fruit (raisin, prune, cherry, and apricot). Dry chocolate and toffee. Hint of black licorice. Lingering aftertaste emphasizes the stone fruit.
Medium mouth feel with some syrup. Higher ABV% is warming rather than burning. Good carbonation.
Beautiful clear brown body with red accents.

330ml bottle. 2022 vintage, bottle number 6741 Drank on 5/25/2024
Look: Transparent brown body with dark reddish tint when held to the beer light. Some light does pass thru. Short head that hangs on for a little while leaving some fine lacing.
Smell: I'm getting some roast, plum, then a odd but nice smell that is hard to describe: bitter black licorice.
Taste: follows the nose plus some chocolate, caramel and maybe coffee mixed in. There seems to be a earthy bitterness in the back ground. This beer is mostly bitter but does have some sweetness at the start.
Mouth feel is ok surprising somewhat smooth. Medium to slightly thin body.

This beer has some complexity too it. Glad I tried it. I would drink and maybe buy again. 4.07/5
On a side note. if you look at the symbol on the bottle label. It looks like two eagles. but sometimes it looks like a boar

330ml bottle, 2022 edition, bottle #7172. Into a Great Divide Yeti snifter. Pours a dark brown mahogany, little light red is visible on the sides when held up to the light, thin wispy 1/2 finger khaki head, not much retention or lacing. As advertised, there is definitely a vinous character to the nose and even more so to the taste that makes this different than most imp stouts. Still, the nose, while strong and steady and modestly complex doesn’t really come in layers or waves…it’s just steady. I get faint juicy tobacco, faint toffee, prune, fresh vanilla, baker’s chocolate and just a touch of bitter coffee. Minimal English herbal hoppiness. All blended together really well. Taste follows nose, though it is pretty juicy for the style, with less bitterness than the nose promises on the front end. Kind of a mild layer of malty chocolate that is layed down as a base for the whole shooting match, with other things happening on top of that. A little lingering bitterness toward the back end, now that I let it sit with me for a while. A little smoky note shows up somewhere in there too. Very flavorful, without being overpowering. A little thin for the American versions of the style, but not sure if I should factor that in. Some mild bitterness and dryness in the finish. Interesting and tasty beer. Bought it from the fridge at the store, and cracked it open soon after, but it got much better as it warmed.

2016 Vintage.
Black, scarce off-white foam, ok.
Correct, well dona, maybe it lacks a bit of character.
After a bit of warming, the vinous characters comes out, with a light tartness. Interesting.
Nuts.
Surprisingly light body, a bit short in the end, again vinous and tart. Roasted, green coffee, dry figs.
We expected something more round, but probably is the age.
Good, well.

 

 

330 ml bottle, vintage 2012, bottle No. 1368, from Prima Beer, Hobro. 99 IBU as fresh. Ebony colour, low beige head. Aroma of dark malts, chocolate, vanilla, prunes, oak and fortified wine. Soft mouthfeel, very moderate carbonation. The flavour has the same notes as the aroma, also coffee and decent hops in the finish. Good beer.

Poured black with a thick tan head and decent lacing.

Tasted of rich dark malt, with a slight dark chocolate sweetness to it and a nice RIS bitter aftertaste. Had a medium viscous feel to it. Nice.

 

L- Black with a ruby fleck through it when held to the light. Clear, + no sludge visibly left in bottle. 1mm tan head.
S- A bright fruit note (reminds me of stewed blackberry) together with toastiness.
T- Some coffee, a liquorish sherry/port pungency then off into the smokey/charred wood depths.
F- Deep pungent, one for slow sipping, ideal for winter.
O- Quite a beast of a beer, but how refined. Zero to note as out of place or balance. Wow, I'd very happily buy this again, it's a class brew.
330ml bottle. '2018 vintage, bottle 04322'. Bought from BeerOfEurope/UK for home delivery.

 

 

2016 vintage, so 2-3 years of age.
330 ml bottle

Pours black, with tan colored head. Fairly good head retention. Very roasty aroma - espresso, bitter cacao. Taste is similar, but not as dry as expected. A touch of dark fruit flavors in there. Thicker bodied, lower carbonation.

This brew is from a bottle. very black...completely solid...with a thick and tight head, this is a beautiful beer. The aroma has chocolate....dark bitter chocolate...dark malt...wet wood, and more. Wow. Complex and interesting. Full and luscious in body. Wonderful.

330mL bottled 2014 bottle #1181 poured into a snifter at fridge temp 10% ABV. The beer pours black with no light penetration and has a meager, but lasting, light brown head. The head recedes to a fat ring around the glass. There are tiny spots of lacing left behind as I drink. The aroma is faint with light roast and some chocolate. The taste is bittersweet chocolate, medium roasted malt and dark fruit (raisin, plum, cherry). There is a little tang in finish, but it's barely noticeable. The mouthfeel is medium to full bodied with very low carbonation and a semi wet finish that's in no way cloying. Overall, very good. This beer was not worth buying routinely at $6/single, but it's absolutely worth trying once.