Dry, Bitter Imperial Stouts

Good suggestion with the BBVD.

 

Get you some Ten Fidy and Storm King. So bitter and intense.

 

If the OP lives in the Capital Region/Central/Western NY, Zero Gravity has nice distribution. My local Wegmans was promoting it a lot a few weeks back.

 

Its more about the chemistry of brewing. If a yeast has the same % attenuation in fermenting both a higher gravity wort and lower gravity wort, the former is always going to have a higher final gravity (the amount of sugar the yeast was unable to covert to alcohol). The higher the finishing gravity, the sweeter the beer will likely taste (aside from other effects like use of bitter roasted malt or hop bitterness).

For comparison, BJCP style guidelines (used for judging homebrew competitions) lists the typical final gravity range for Irish Stout as 1.07 to 1.011, but for Russian Imperial Stout as 1.018 to 1.030.

 

in an imperial stout i would think along the lines of bitterness from the roasted grains as much if not more than hop bitterness and ibu .

old rasputin is really good for that nice balance

great lakes blackout stout is one to try but can't remember the last time i saw it on shelves

 

I've used their beer finder with good success:

https://victorybeer.com/finder/index-clicked.php?item=all

"enter" button doesn't work, you have to click "find" once zip is in.

 

I turn to Yeti whenever I'm in the mood you're describing

 

Old Rasputin. Great value too!

 

Looks like an imperialized version of the Guinness Draught might be what you're after. Just something super-attenuated, heavily hopped, high ABV stout that makes you lose your faith in humanity.

No, I'm not talking about the Extra or Foreign Extra variants - those actually taste good.

 

Since your in New York, I would look for Grimm Double Negative, great imperial stout. Also, Jacks Abby Framinghammer shouldn't be hard to find this time of year; It's a baltic porter but I don't know if you could tell in a blind taste test and very reasonably priced.

 

Interesting that Yeti is uncommon in some places. I figured that beer was pretty ubiquitous, but then again, Great Divide isn't quite what they were a few years back.
Ten Fidy is also a relatively dry/hoppy big stout worth seeking out. Old Rasputin, too.
While not Imperial/strong, Deschutes Obsidian is also along those lines.

 

We get deschutes here finally but they don't send all their stuff. Obsidian is one of those they choose not to send, I'm hopeful that will change at some point. It has been many years since I have tried that beer. Then again I'm happy with options I have, would just be fun to revisit.

 

Out here it doesn't seem to be a big seller, but it's usually around. I'm a little surprised, considering we don't get the stouts from other breweries of that size. I don't think those beers sell well in general. The stouts that people seek out here are typically milk (or oat) stouts that are sweet and often spiced, flavored, or tossed into spirits barrels of some sort. Strength is often on the lower end of "Imperial" but still well over what I'd consider Export.