Tasting – North Coast Old Rasputin

Posted on 12.27.07 5:30PM under Stout, Tasting

North Coast Old RasputinI have been really after the big beers this winter. Many Barley Wines and Imperial Stouts and Anniversary Beers and Winter Warmers have crossed my glass, and many have been duly noted, tasted, and thoroughly enjoyed. Some have been easy to love, some have been subtle, some have been overstated, some require work to complete. Every now and then there’s one that is just awesome. Old Rasputin is the one that’s just awesome.

From the first whiff of the beer as I poured it into the glass to the last sip from the bottom of the poor empty glass, Old Rasputin had me practically giggling with delight every time. It was not hard work. It was beauty in a bottle every step of the way. There were no heavy fruity alcohol estery flavors or aromas to bog you down. The fruits that were there in the nose were well met with balanced applications of a licorice scent and dark chocolate. There was perhaps the slightest hint of an alcohol aroma in there, but one might expect such a thing on a nearly 10% Russian Imperial Stout, and wish for it were it not found.

The flavor I could never really find the words to do it justice. It had a dab of alcohol, with hints of bitterness, and a mild touch of fruit flavor. But overall, these flavors meshed together like a well-made stew, and the impression is that of roundness and high-flavored stouty enjoyment. Looks like “stouty” isn’t a word, but I’m going to use it anyway. This beer is almost subtle, but not in the way that you can’t find any flavors to comment on, rather in the way that it doesn’t come out and wallop you on the head like a sledgehammer. In a way, it seems like this beer has already been aged a few years, it is just that mellow. I can’t wait to see how it comes out in a few years.

Even the mouth feel on this thing of indescribable beauty is astounding. It is big and full as you would expect, but there’s this little watering hole in the middle for just a moment, which enables you to recover slightly. This keeps the whole thing honest and makes you wish for another taste right away.

The only thing that I would have done differently for this tasting would have been to be prepared with a big fancy dark chocolate cake to go along with it. But even a la carte, it’s hard to go wrong here. I only picked up one four-pack, and I think it is seriously time for me to head back out to the beer store to buy out the rest of what they’ve got.

If you don’t have a good beer store nearby that sells the stuff, you can probably still pick some up at Liquid Solutions.

Read Comments

  1. Posted by The Dude on 12.28.07 2:40 pm

    Agreed wholeheartedly on the Old Rasputin. A good friend of mine is the wine/beer manager at a Kroger store, and I managed to pick up a four of these at half price when Kroger had decided to remodel and put in a new cooler in his department. This friend is a major wine kind of guy (goes out to California to do tastings, etc., etc.) but ironically he used to do a Budweiser route professionally. Actually, that might explain his preference for wine now. Yeah, OK, that was a cheap shot.

    Back to the subject though, I’m not sure how BA or RateBeer ranks Old Rasputin. I don’t guess it really makes much difference as long as I like it, and I do. Big beers are usually a pretty easy sell for me, but even at that, Old Rasputin ranks right up there. Now if I could just get Shiner (Texas brewery of German heritage) to whip up a nice doppelbock…

  2. Posted by Keith Brainard on 12.28.07 4:11 pm

    It rates an overall A- over at BeerAdvocate, with over a thousand votes. That’s a pretty high standing. I haven’t seen many beers that highly reviewed with such a high average score.

    The thing that I think is most outstanding about Old Rasputin is that even though it is big it is really smooth and not overpowering.

    As for Shiner… I’ve had Shiner Bock while in Austin in the past, but never really cared for it that much. I might reevaluate it one day, as my beer tastes have certainly changed since then.

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