Online Tasting: North Coast Old Rasputin Day (January 21, 2026)

Welcome one and all to our Online Tasting Event to celebrate the annual day North Coast Brewery celebrates one of their greatest beers, and one of the greatest beers of the Russian Imperial Stout Style, Old Rasputin.

This is a combined planning and tasting thread, to allow participants enough time to purchase their Old Rasputin. The Official Tasting will run from Wednesday January 21 at 0:00 AM BA Time (7 PM EST January 20) through the end of the BA January 21st day (Midnight Pacific Standard Time). Beers will be enjoyed on this date, but planning discussion is permitted over the next four days. All versions (standard and barrel aged / anniversary) are permitted for this event.

This beer is named for Grigori Rasputin, who was born on January 21 (January 9 on the "old calendar", or Gregorian Calendar still used today by several Orthodox churches in Europe and Africa). North Coast Brewery typically has an event on this day celebrating their beer.

https://www.instagram.com/northcoastbrewingcompany/p/DTlDxU5E8dK/

And here is good background of the beer written by famed beer writer Jeff Alworth:

https://allaboutbeer.com/article/north-coast-old-rasputin/

While most of us live too far away from the brewery to celebrate in person, we will celebrate here on Beer Advocate. Many of us in the United States and in fifteen other countries have access to this beer. You can check the links below to find your nearest retailer.

https://northcoastbrewing.com/distributor-list/

https://northcoastbrewing.com/beers/beer-locator/

Hope you can join us this Wednesday to celebrate with this excellent Russian Imperial Stout.

 

Sounds like you are having an awesome trip. Hope you run into great beers, including perhaps an Old Rasputin, this Wednesday! Salud!

Hope he is able to return to enjoy the tasting. I enjoyed "Cease and Desist", De Molen's take on Old Rasputin until they received a Cease and Desist letter from North Coast Brewery. Perhaps you can find this selection in Finland (I had it last here in Chicago five or so years ago).

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/11031/41867/

Thank you for your link. I actually edited my post, originally noting January 22nd as North Coast did celebrate this date. The 22nd would correspond to Rasputin's Christening (per wiki, I am not by any means a Rasputin historian). Perhaps are or were closed on Tuesdays (Jan 22 in 2014), as they are closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays currently, and wanted to have a live brewery event.

https://northcoastbrewing.com/the-pub/

 

How old is my Old Rasputin?

I believe this has changed over the years, but recent bottles have the following coding structure:



My understanding is the code in the lower right hand side of recent bottles indicate:

5103102225

• 5 = 2025 Year
• 103 = Batch number within the year.
• 102225 = October 22, 2025

These beers typically hold up well, especially if refrigerated and or properly cellared over the year(s). I have never had an issue over the years with any of these beers.