Stone Imperial Russian Stout Beer Review

For this review, I'll be reviewing an old tried and true favorite of mine and a true colossus of the beer world, the Imperial Russian Stout from Stone Brewing Co.

To read more on Stone Brewing Co., please check out my review of Stone's Ruination Tenth Anniversary here.

This beer is what is referred to as an Imperial Stout. Alternately, you may hear this style referred to as a Russian Imperial Stout, American Double Stout, etc. Everyone is talking about essentially the same thing. Remember how we discussed that the word "imperial" meant that the beer was an amplified version of the original style, i.e. Imperial IPA? Well, the Imperial Stout is where the term was first used and its origins are, in fact, imperial. The style originated during the reign of the Czarina Catherine the Great of Russia, who ruled from 1762 until her death in 1796. During this time, the Russian imperial court, through their travels and connections, developed a taste for traditional English and Irish stouts that had been made in Great Britain for some time. These traditional stouts are actually quite familiar to many beer drinkers. This is the style that Guinness falls into. Being the rich and powerful nobles that they were, Catherine's court requested that stouts from the British Isles be sent to them in St. Petersburg. This is where their grand scheme hit a snag. The long and arduous journey required to get beer from England to Russia in the late 18th century meant that these relatively light dry stouts, as they're properly known, were spoiling in transit and were unfit for consumption by the time the Russian nobility got their bourgeois little fingers on it. Not wanting to disappoint the noble court (or lose out on potentially huge profits), English brewers found a solution. They began making an extremely strong interpretation of stout designed for export that would survive its trek and be enjoyable upon arrival. To achieve this, they used the same recipe that included dark, roasted malts (imparting the beer's classically dark color) but increased the quantities of malt, hops, and yeast to produce an intensely flavored, high alcohol beer. The style caught on, and soon English brewers weren't just making the beer for export. It also became popular in England as a decadent indulgence.

It would be the dawning of the craft beer revolution in the U.S. during the last 30-40 years that would give rise to the style's greatest popularity. The Imperial Stout is today a cornerstone for the craft beer world. Examples of the style are as plentiful as one could hope and they have indeed become an outlet for many brewers to push the limits of what beer can be. Since the beer is so sturdy, it can survive and indeed thrive under a number of treatments that would wilt a less hearty brew. Imperial Stouts are often barrel aged in clean oak, bourbon, port, or cognac barrels. They might be brewed with real coffee and/or chocolate to accentuate already present flavors. Additionally, brewers sometimes push the abv limits of beer with this style. While standard Imperial Stouts start out around 8% abv but frequently run into double digits (Stone's Imperial Russian Stout is 10.5% abv), some crazy brewmasters have pushed the alcohol of their Imperial Stouts up toward 20% abv and beyond. This wild creativity and innovation has made this a style with a very intense following and a plethora of extremely well regarded examples. Stone's interpretation just happens to be one of them.

The beer is presented in a 22oz bomber bottle with a relatively basic label that features the Stone gargoyle. After popping the cap and vigorously pouring into my Libbey Poco Grande glass, I am left with a marvelously dark beer. The main body of the beer is inky black with only tints of dark brown, cola-like highlights at the edges when held to light. The center of the beer is an abyss. This black as a moonless night beer is topped off by a half inch mocha colored head that gradually fades to a ring around the glass with some spotty foam throughout the center. Looks great. Appearance: 14/15

It has been too long since I had this beer last and plunging my nose into it screams that very fact so loudly I'm afraid of disturbing the neighbors. The aromas are fantastic. I'm met by a great roasted flavor instantly reminiscent of finely brewed espresso. Chocolate, caramel, and vanilla come in to dominate the nose while I pick up on a faint charred note floating around in there. This beer receives no barrel aging, but that char is definitely there. By no means assertive, but present. Baker's chocolate provides some additional pleasant bitter notes to back up the espresso. Nose: 24/25

Oh buddy, how I missed this beer! My first drinks are like slipping into your favorite pair of slippers; I feel instantly comforted and at home. While classic bitter espresso flavors are there, the roastiness that is so apparent in this beer also reveal that certain uncanny sweetness that I also enjoy when drinking actual espresso. Its the sort of sweetness that really takes you aback because that is the last place you'd expect to find sweetness, buried there in the middle of this espresso. I am also confronted by those classic stout flavors of chocolate, caramel, vanilla, and even a little toffee. I'm beginning to think that the faint char note I smelled in the nose was simply another expression of the roast in this extremely complex and satisfying beer. What really makes this beer world class and sets it apart from so many of its lesser counterparts is its ability to achieve such balance and harmony with the multitude of flavors present. An inferior example might be very coffee forward or too chocolatey sweet. This beer delivers all those flavors, in overdrive, yet they never fight one another. They are a chorus in perfect harmony. Remember how I said Stone was known for their intensely hoppy beers? Well, this guy has tons of hops too, but this time around they're virtually undetectable beneath the massive malt bill, present only to prevent the beer from becoming a boozy, cloying mess. Palate: 50/50

The mouthfeel is among the best I've had in the style. Thick, viscous, a touch oily. Fuller than full and the perfect cap to an already amazing beer. Mouthfeel: 10/10

OVERALL: 98/100

This beer has stood the test of time. In an industry that is constantly shifting and that prizes an ever higher standard of innovation, this beer is a bastion of perfection, a stalwart that still sells extremely well. It serves as a reminder to all those would be brewers of the style that this is where they have to aim if they want a chance in hell of making a great beer. This beauty will also pair well with many foods. Cheesecake, chocolate torts, coffee flavored ice cream, toffee, fine caramels. I also wouldn't hesitate to pair this beer with strong cheese or even a dry rubbed steak. If cigars are something you're into, might I recommend pairing this beer with a maduro cigar of your choosing. If you would like, buy two bottles of this: drink one fresh during the summer months and age the other one in a cool, dark place to see how it develops after a couple years (or ten). Cheers!

Stone Ruination Tenth Anniversary Beer Review

I'm back to doing some beer reviews, although I did enjoy going into detail about saisons. Expect more of that. I'm drawn back to beer reviews because, as I mentioned in a previous post, I've been fortunate enough lately to happen upon some great beer and tonight is no exception as I will be trying the brand new Stone Ruination Tenth Anniversary! (Insert overwhelming excitement here)

Stone Brewing Co. was founded in 1996 in San Marcos, CA by Greg Koch and Steve Wagner. In 2005, the brewery relocated to their current location in Escondido, CA (North County, San Diego). Since its founding, Stone has built a massive and intensely loyal following by crafting high octane, over the top beers and branding them with an arrogant love it or leave it attitude that has endeared them to the beer geek masses. Twice named the best brewery on Earth by Beeradvocate Magazine, Stone has grown into a juggernaut of the industry on the backs of its hop forward beers. Greg Koch has defined himself as the face of the brewery, dubbing himself "the" arrogant bastard. This is in reference to Stone's Arrogant Bastard Ale that essentially created the American Strong Ale style in 1997. In 2011, I was lucky enough to attend a tasting hosted by Greg Koch and had the opportunity to meet the man and the legend. Below is a picture of us.

Sorry if the image is a bit blurry, the lighting was weird. Greg is on the left, I'm on the right. I know it's an awful picture of me, please don't judge.

Anyway, among Stone's many signature beers is their double IPA known as Ruination, so named for the ruinous effect on one's palate from the extreme hoppiness. To read more about the double IPA style, please see my review of Three Floyd's Dreadnaught here. Stone first starting brewing Ruination way back in 2002. At that time, Ruination was the only regular production, year round double IPA in the entire country. As a testament to how far the industry has come in the past ten years and to commemorate a decade of making one of the most highly regarded and best selling double IPAs on Earth, Stone decided to make a special version of Ruination for the tenth anniversary. Whereas standard Ruination is 7.7% abv and uses 2.5 lbs. of hops per barrel (that's a lot), Ruination Tenth Anniversary weighs in at 10.8% abv and uses an almost scary 5 lbs. of hops per barrel. As if this insane hop regimen weren't enough, the anniversary edition also undergoes additional dry hopping, a technique in which hops are dumped in the finished beer after fermentation to provide an additional blast of hoppy goodness. Apparently, Greg and his brewmaster Mitch Steele were trying to scare me with this beer. They figured no one could love Ruination as much as I do. Little do they know how hard I am to scare. I am unnecessarily stoked. Let's dive in!

I am greeted by a beautiful 22oz bottle (called a bomber) that sports some of the best label art I've seen in a while. The trademark Stone gargoyle (that wards off the evils of cheap ingredients and preservatives) is stationed front and center, flanked on all sides by meandering hop vines that terminate in beautiful little hop cones. Bright green lettering that really stands out against otherwise gold detailing identifies the beer and the usual Stone paragraph or two on back rants and raves about how awesome their beer is and how we're probably too weak to enjoy it anyway. A big pour into my Libbey Poco Grande glass reveals a very clear dark gold to light amber beer that serves as the foundation for a scrumptious looking light beige head about an inch or so thick. The head recedes after a few minutes and settles into a solid half inch that appears to be here for the long haul. For the record, this amped up version does remarkably resemble standard Ruination. Appearance: 14/15

The nose on this beer is outrageous. Huge, nay, leviathan notes of grapefruit and extraordinarily ripe pineapple are leaping out of the glass. I barely even need my nose in it, I can smell it from three feet away. A little bit of piney hops are in there too but I mostly smell big time notes of Simcoe, Citra, and Centennial hops. This is great news for me, as I love all three. Also slinking around in the background are some caramel-like sweet aromas, my first clue that I'm not dealing with your average Ruination, a beer revered and feared for its bone-dry body. Nose: 24/25

Wow! After my first taste, this is among the more impressive beers I've ever tasted. I understand the difficulty in crafting a beer like this. To elevate the alcohol into double digits while retaining the essence of the original; that is, a dry and clean showcase for sheer hop power, is not easy in the slightest. Achieving a beer that has these seemingly paradoxical qualities requires striking the right balance between hops and malt, then selecting the right yeast to carry this beer to fruition, then carefully monitoring the fermentation to assure everything attenuates as fully as possible. Truly, bravo to Mitch Steele. All those great hop aromas in the nose translate beautifully here, with hints of orange and lemon getting out of their seats and on the dance floor. Those notes of caramel sweet crystal malt that I detected in the nose are still only dancing around the perimeter. They never make a play to overtake or even match the hops. There is a slight smack of booziness and a touch of resinous hops to remind me that this is in fact a bigger Ruination. I rather like that in this beer, almost as though it were humbling me the moment I thought I could conquer this liquid poem to the glory of the hop (can't take credit for that phrase, it's all Stone there). Palate: 50/50

The mouthfeel is very good. A thick, viscous IPA that leaves the tongue with subtle but distinct reminders of its power. They have achieved their desired affect: my palate is ruined. I won't be enjoying any more beers tonight. Mouthfeel: 9/10

OVERALL: 97/100

Man, I picked a great time to start a beer blog. I've been lucky to have so much great beer as of late. This beer is no exception. I love original Ruination but this beer tops it in every way. I love craft beer because the truly great ones allow me to taste the dedication and care that went into making them. This is one of those beers. While I admit to being a long time Stone fan and a budding Stone fanboy, I truly believe that this beer can stand on its own merit and go toe to toe with the best beers out there. I will definitely be buying more of this before it's gone forever and you should too. Cheers!