I am finding a lot of breweries are not selling Russian Imperial Stouts near as much as they used to, now they are just American Stouts or simply Imperial Stouts. The difference I am finding, the Russian Imperial Stouts had much more of the charr flavor and bite to them, whereas now they seems to all have some overbearing sweetness. I liken this to IPAs seemingly going to Hazy IPAs... What do y'all think? I am hoping to get some sort of referendum on this next election cycle
Wasn't there a recent thread asking where all the standard stouts have gone? It could be that the disappearance of either stout style is more local or regional rather than a national situation. I see more RIS beers than the standard stouts, although just about all the RIS are flavored nowadays. EDIT: Found it. https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/death-of-stouts.678763/
No, the breweries in your area are just just running short on their dark malts supply now that winter is ending, so they are dumbing down their stouts by using less.
IMHO there was, is, and always shall be a shortage of Russian Imperial Stouts! Old Rasputin is always available, but I think they are a "seasonal" beer. A local brewer, Wild Onion re-badged Drago as shown, no idea why except possibly the O provedenii spetsialʹnoy voyennoy operatsii,(special military operation, stole that from google).
Resistance proved futile when it came to incorporating barrel aging programs, and using added flavors as their talking and selling points.
I’ve seen the same. Couldn’t tell you the last time I saw a proper RIS on draft. The desert-ification of beer in the US is gnarly.
I would assume it's a freedom fries sort of situation, where due to the war in Ukraine brewers don't want Russian in the name of their beer. Here in the UK all the frozen Chicken Kiev became Chicken Kyiv very quickly.
The war has a lot to with it I’m sure but that notwithstanding, it is difficult these days to find a big stout without some sort of additive in it.
The West has become Russophobic. That and American brewers want to make a style of strong stout which is different from the tradition which they are borrowing.
I am fortunate that a local brewery makes an excellent Russian Imperial Stout: 2SP The Russian. They won three Gold Medals for this beer at the GABF: “2SP Brewing Company's "The Russian" Russian Imperial Stout has won three gold medals at the Great American Beer Festival (GABF), with wins in 2016, 2017, and 2019.” I believe it is a winter seasonal. Na Zdrowie!
IMO the differences in most of those bigger stout naming conventions = almost non-existent. The naming usually just comes down to whatever the brewery feels like going with. Hoppy "American" stouts in the normal 5-7%ABV range seem to have dwindled quite a bit, but I probably see more bigger stouts now than any time I can recall in the past. They mostly lean sweeter than in the past (regardless of what the breweries are naming them) and adjuncts + barrels are being used way way more, though. Big stouts that are hoppy AF a la normal Great Divide Yeti have mostly gone the way of the dodo, just like their milder brethren.
You really think it’s because of the war? I’d be shocked if that’s what’s driving it. My money is that it’s simply because the market wants stouts with Twix bars in them.
I reviewed Drago in 2023 and was confused that it didn't seem to be a RIS, despite the picture and style in the BA listing saying it was.
@MutuelsMark - What you are noticing is not a market shift from one style to another. This is a case of a market shift in what people want their stouts to be like (recipe-wise) and a separate market shift in how people want stouts marketed (references to Russia - which is partially but not totally due to world conflict). In some ways my comment isn’t logical - since beer styles are the intersection of marketing trends with recipe trends, but I still think there is merit to the separation of these two different things.
