California Dreamin’
Way back in 1994, Pam and I were out in California for a vacation. We drove up the North Coast and spent a night in Fort Bragg. For dinner we ate at North Coast Brewing where we had some great food and beer. Since then I have had a few of their beers when I could find them but it had been a while. Earlier this year I reviewed their Acme IPA which was a good beer. Well, my current Stout kick has drawn me to their Old Rasputin Imperial Russian Stout, which I hadn’t enjoyed before. I had a bottle out on the deck with some dessert:
Appearance: Stout dark is what this beer pours. No light gets through. The lacing was very good but not excellent. This beer looks great in the glass.
Smell: Dark coffee and dark chocolate are the predominant aromas. There is some malt sweetness as well as some dark fruit like plum, fig, and cherry. There is also a hint of hops. As the beer warmed up the chocolate became more prominent.
Taste: This beer absolutely coats the mouth with a ton of chocolate and coffee. This is a full bodied beer and the taste is big as well. The chocolate is very forward with coffee in the background and in the aftertaste. The bitterness is not too much.
Drinkability: Considering the higher ABV (9%), this drinks very well. It’s not a “chugger” but I could definitely see myself drinking a couple of these over an evening.
Old Rasputin is a great beer. It has a lot of coffee and chocolate, which I like, and it’s well blended. Nothing overpowers, but rather combines together to make a delicious drinking experience. This beer is an obvious choice for a dessert beer, especially with chocolate. The key with this beer is to serve it at the correct temperature (50-55 degrees). If you drink it much colder than that you will be missing out on a lot, In the end, I think I liked this just a tiny bit more than the Stone 2009 Imperial Russian Stout but it’s so close I can’t really give it a higher score. They’re both great beers but just a tad below my two highest scoring Stouts, Mikkeller Beer Geek Brunch and the Redhook Double Black Stout. Any or all of these beers are fantastic and well worth trying, so go out and buy them all! 
Here’s the score:
1. Appearance- 9 points (out of 10)
2. Smell- 9 points (out of 10)
3. Taste- 19 points (out of 20)
4. Drinkability- 8 points (out of 10)
Total 45 (out of 50) Points -4 Mugs
This is one of my recent favorite stouts to drink. Thankfully this is easy to find in my area, I drink these more in the cold winter months but on occasion will enjoy one in the summer months as well. Very rich, full bodied beer!
Hey Chris,
The Old Rasputin is a favorite of mine, It has a great mix of flavors and is well balanced. I’ll drink it year ’round. Summer heat reduces the amount of Stouts I’ll drink but not a whole lot because I like them so much. The way I look at it is this, I drink most of them at 50-55 degrees which is 30-40 degrees cooler than the outdoor temps, so what’s the big deal