Stone Espresso Imperial Russian Stout

I do buy RIS or Espresso RIS when I can find it..Love both! And sometimes I can find it at Total Wine in Del for less.

 

Managed to find one bottle of it here in Philly which I have held for a couple of months. Going to enjoy it end of Dec. Also have the chance to have my first try of this on tap at a local event next week

 

Haha! Well, I'm guessing this asshat you speak of wouldn't like me either, because I wholeheartedly agree with your statement. The Espresso IRS is pretty flipping good, but I think TenFidy might be my favorite readily available stout out there.

 

When it was available out here (at TW) the regular RIS was $5.99 and the Espresso RIS was $4.99. As a matter of fact, I just opened an Espresso RIS a couple weeks ago, and it's aging beautifully so far...

 

I never saw a bottle of Expresso and I am very sad about it!

 

Going to VT next month, wonder if there's some lying around there...

 

Checked my records and I paid $7 for the IRS in late July at Julio's in Westborough Mass. when it was on sale, and $8.70 for the Espresso IRS at Spirit Haus in Amherst a week later. Store prices will vary according to location. I would think that $9 is average for NJ and $6.50 is a sale or clearance price. Sometimes stores mark down older bottles too, even though Stouts aren't too likely to deteriorate with age, and may actually improve.

 

The espresso version might lose some of it's coffee punch if aged, but I still think it would be great. IRS is such a great beer.

 

Its probably my favorite coffee infused beer.

 

Buy em up! I can't find the espresso version around here at all anymore. Just the regular one and that is vanishing as well.

 

It is not currently scheduled to be brewed again. The odd year releases from Stone are different each year. The 2011 IRS Odd year release was the Belgo version. Who knows what they will come up with for 2015.

That being said it was such a big success that I would not be surprised to see it come back in one way or other at some point.

 

i stocked up on both. when they first dropped, Costco had em both for several weeks @ $4.99 per. interestingly there was a case of these sitting on a mom & pop's shelf for the longest - about a week & a half back the owner finally moved them off the shelf and into the cooler, i noticed there's only 7 left.

taken 11/04/2013:

 

I loved the espresso fresh, but I cracked open a bottle 2 months back, and it seemed like the espresso had gotten stale and bitter in a bad way. Personally, I would drink the espresso now and age the regular. Sounds like others have had different experiences though.

 

somewhat in agreement. the coffee has definitely faded (cracked one of these last week). there is a different slightly bitter presence. however, i'm not 100% certain it's the coffee doing that. the regular IRS tended to be more bitter, the Espresso's fade may just be more of the base stout coming forward? at any rate the Espresso did not have the same creamier coffee notes like early in its release. 1 tip is the current bitterness does curtail slightly & other dimension come out a little as this beer's temperature rises.

 

I feel like there are several much better coffee stouts out there (Founders, Central Waters, New Glarus, Goose Island just to name a few). It felt to me like Stone wanted to jump on that bandwagon and put together a decent but not monumental coffee stout. IRS itself is not one of my top Imperial Stouts when it is fresh, but it creeps up the list after 2 or 3 years in the bottle.

 

Both the regular 2013 IRS and the Espresso variant are still readily available in NJ and are a bargain. One of the stores I frequent sells IRS for $6.69 and Espresso for $6.99. Such a great deal for such great brews - I can't stop buying them!

 

Which part of NJ are you in? North or South?

 

I'm in Union County, which is northern New Jersey, but approaching central. The store I was referring to is Wine Library in Springfield.

 

I just picked one up for $6 in South Boston. That was the last one one the shelf. There were 3 last week. I am happy to have gotten the last bottle.

 

I picked one up for $7.00 and I actually just had it last night. It was pretty good but I much prefer Lagunitas Cappuccino Stout.