North Coast Old Rasputin XII

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

27 dollars for a single bottle of beer, and it's not an authentic trappist ale? Amazing! Not worth the price, but it's quality beer from a reputable brewer. I got this as a gift, my friend bought it on a shelf where the 12 oz bottle was next to it for $2.99. He paid $27 for this 16 oz bottle. I told him WOW! Great gift. But tastewise, it's not worth it. BECAUSE... the regular version of Rasputin is top-notch! NCBC should stop these overpriced special brews, because their standard ones are already stellar.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 5 | Mouthfeel: 5 | Flavor: 5 | Overall: 5

A recent gift, bottle is fairly fresh. A good black pour with a brown head. Aroma of roasted malt, wood, coffee, and bourbon. Flavour starts sweet with fruit tones, chocolate, and malt before giving way to the alcohol and the bitter finish. A disappointment.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 7

Pours a eight ball black, good foam .. . i let you hide behind me in dodgeball, i'm through with you!.. . tar, light oak, bourbon, molasses, and black scratch.. . mild and fun, good stuff .. . I got food poisoning today. I don't know when I'll use it.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 7

This was a good beer that I must thank a friend for. I was told it was almost impossible to get. The pour was a very dark brown, not quite black. The aroma has a bourbon accent to it as well as roasted malt and coffee hints. The flavor had a little too much alcohol for my liking as well as being a bit thin for an imperial stout.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 10 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 9

Big, delicious, bourbon barrel-aged Imperial Stout. In my pinion, normal Old Rasputin is an extremely likable Imperial Stout with an excellent and complex flavor profile. This barrel-aged version is a a bigger, smoothed out version of the original with an excellent bourbon flavor. It pours opaquely black with a great sticky mocha-colored head that leaves excellent lacing. The aroma is mostly bourbon with less roasted malt stout character than in normal Old Rasputin, but it’s still very nice. The flavor is just incredible. It’s one of the best bourbon barrel stouts that I’ve tasted thus far. The bourbon flavor complements the chocolate and coffee notes of the roasted malt in the stout. It’s not the strongest bourbon flavor I’ve ever encountered, but it works extremely well with the flavors of the underlying stout. It’s a big, strong sipper. Port’s wonderful Older Viscosity is the only other beer that comes to mind as a good point of comparison. Re-taste: Delicious. It’s like molten bourbon fudge. Creamy as hell. Rich. Luxurious. The bourbon is a bit stronger than I remember but still good. Fantastic beer.

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 9 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 9

Nice heavy ruby black pour with a tight medium tan head that subsides to a remaining cap leaving gentle tight lacing throughout. Bourbon, dark chocolate, cherries and vanilla with more bourbon which dominates the rich aromas. This one is definitely a sipper - big bourbon flavor up front with oaken vanilla, more dark chocolates and cherries, roasted malts, slight espresso. Big, no HUGE beer which lasted me quite a long time during the evening. Even better as it warmed leaving me wanting more...

Aroma: 10 | Appearance: 10 | Mouthfeel: 10 | Flavor: 10 | Overall: 10

Yes, I feel that this is the Best Russian IPS I have had yet!!! Everything comes together in this brew. Pours a perfect obsidian, rich tan head. First, the aroma. Chocolate is dark and the coffee is espresso, melded with hints of vanilla and bourbon along with dark cherries and the charartistic dark fruit notes. Taste is amazing period. Dark, semi sweet chocolate, smooth as silk. Vanilla espresso with steamed milk. Dark cherries and fig/raisin follow with the oakiness and bourbon notes from the barrel. A rich licorice note is in the finish, earthy, oaky, and where is the 11.2% ABV??? I am going to let the other bottle I have sit for another 9 months just to see where this brew will go. Mouthfeel is silky smooth, flavors are layered nicely, and as this brew warms, the body does not cloy. I would hazard to say that this drinks best at closer to 60 deg. Finish is gentle and warm. Light hint of alcohol is noted as the brew warms. Rich dark truffles come to mind. This beer is best by itself, shared in good company, and served in an Imp Stout glass. Worth the 22 bucks I paid for it - ABSOLUTELY!!! Slainte!!!

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 7

XII Anniversary bottling; Sampled July 2009
The beer pours from the bottle quite a black color, but it does have some concentrated brown notes to it around the edges. A thin brown head disappears pretty quickly. The aroma is dominated by the Bourbon aromatics, but it remains smooth. There is a huge hit of vanillin up front followed by a touch of spicy Bourbon / oak character. You can really smell the dark / roasted malt character here after a bit. I like that this has a toasted malt backbone that supplies a sort of whole grain, well browned / almost burnt bread crust sort of note.

The beer is warm and spicy from both the alcohol as well as the Bourbon / oak notes. The finish is pretty smooth with vanillin notes playing a big role. There is also quite a bit of chocolate flavors here, which mixes quite well with the vanillin notes. There is quite a bit of roasted character from the base beer and it even contributes a touch of acidity to the finish. Overall though the roast character remains fairly smooth. Some more warming alcohol becomes noticeable as the beer warms up. The body of this beer could use a bit more richness; at times it can seem a little on the light side, especially as it warms up.

Not a bad beer, I like that the Bourbon character remains well integrated with the base beer; both contribute just about equally to the flavor profile. In the end though I find this beer lacking in a certain richness that seems to be needed to keep this as a well integrated whole. Not bad, and I certainly wouldn’t mind getting another bottle, but not as good as I was hoping either.

Aroma: 10 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 9 | Flavor: 10 | Overall: 9

no light getting through here. still produces a chocolate colored finger thick head afer all the time in oak. nice! aroma is lots of vanilla & bourbon,with a faint touch of chocolate, roasted malt & hops. flavor is also lots of bourbon, wood, and vanilla. whoa...when this baby warms up a bit (60?) it gets a whole lot more complex. the roasted malt, chocolate and coffee come out to play nice with the vanilla bourbon. this is an incredible beer by the end. I even decided to stack it up against an 08 Abyss and it aint doin' too shabby. Also had an '04 Rasputin in the mix...the aroma is shot, but the flavor is still there. Anyway, this brew is worth all 2,000 pennies (+ tax)...definitely a treat. like a more complex, less sweet Bourbon County!