Twelve beers of Christmas: #9

Winter isn't the same without a massive stout to savour. The US microbrewing revolution seems to have been built on three styles: Belgian ales, hyper-hopped IPAs and super-strong stouts. So, before the decs comes down, let's try the impy that's at the top of the style tree on ratebeer - Stone Imperial Russian Stout.



This is a beer with a huge reputation. Loved by ratebeer raters, coveted by UK drinkers and now available in select outlets such as Beers Of Europe. But I've often wondered if there's more than a whiff of hype behind beers like this. A revered brewer, imposing beer style, bottles rarely imported, hard to obtain.... sometimes, these factors make average beers seem (in the eyes of some reviewers) slightly more special even when the aroma, flavour and palate don't really deliver.

And many of the American beers I've tried have been over-assertive. Even aggressive. More hops, more alcohol, more oak-barreling than is strictly necessary. So I was really hoping that Stone IRS would deliver the goods without feeling the need to turn everything up to eleven. My bottle was from Spring 2008 so there was every chance that it would pour feisty and have an alcohol-steaming feel.

Uncapped and let loose in the glass it poured pitch black, a rough laced dirty linen head eventually sheared into a spectral Rorschach blot. Certainly lots of liquorice spilling up to the nose, slashed with cracked leather and clodding earth. Coffeechoc is there and thank boggery for that - no uberhop, no sinus-streching alcohol.

And then.... smoooooothness. Part of me feels cheated- where's the blast? But the beer-sensible part of me is loving it; there's an elegance to the coffee & cigar feel, enough dryness to shave your alcohol-coated craw, berries tarry as bitterness cuts across the oleaginously enjoyable roastiness of it all.

This is impy stout restrained. And magnificent for being so.