North Coast Brewing's Old Rasputin

Facebook is well on its way to taking over the world. Even my mom has a facebook profile now, so it's really not much of a surprise that North Coast Brewing has their own facebook page where you can become a fan of the brewery or a particular beer. What was surprising to me was when I stumbled upon their page for the Old No. 38 Stout earlier this week, and found a link to my own blog up there! So having this on my mind, when I made a trip over to State Line last night to pick up some new brews I couldn't resist grabbing a 4-pack of Old Rasputin.

When a beer has an A on Beer Advocate and a 100 on Rate Beer, it's a pretty safe assumption that it's not only tasty, but also a decent representation of the style. I've had a few Russian Imperial Stouts in the past such as Rogue's XS Imperial Stout, Great Divide's Yeti, and Stone's Russian Imperial Stout. My reaction to these has varied pretty greatly from not being able to finish the Rogue XS, to enjoying the Great Divide and Stone brews even though I had to take my time with both. Not knowing quite what to expect from Old Rasputin, I was a little nervous going in.

The beer poured a deep, nearly black hue with a 1-finger light brown head. The head dissipated to a thin layering fairly quickly, but this remaining layer stuck around for a while. As I drank the beer, it left a decent bit of lacing at first, but this dropped off after I got about a quarter of the way through the glass.

My first whiff of the beer surprised me a little bit. One of the things I've come to expect based on the Russian Imperial Stouts that I've had in the past is a blast of aroma when it's first poured, and a decent bit of alcohol coming through in the smell. Old Rasputin however had a moderately strong, but not overpowering aroma, and the alcohol was definitely not forefront. What I did smell was a nice, slightly sweet combination of chocolate and coffee. Underneath this was just a touch of smokiness, and finally just a hint of alcohol. For being 9% ABV, this was definitely well masked.

Having had my nerves comforted a bit by the pleasant smell, I went ahead and took the first sip. What I immediately noticed was a mix of dark chocolate up front in the mouth, a little bit of a nutty quality in the center of the tongue, and a bitter roasted coffee flavor in the back of the mouth. There was a bit of heat left in my mouth from the alcohol, but I didn't really taste alcohol in the flavor. The aftertaste is pretty similar to dark chocolate as well. The flavors are bold, but they mix together well. Even though the bitterness was the dominant flavor of the beer, it wasn't so bitter that it became a chore to drink or needed to be sipped to get through the glass. The sweetness from the chocolate flavors and the nutty quality are also balanced in such a way that the bitterness isn't the only thing to focus on.

The beer had a fairly thick feel in the mouth, as is to be expected with a Russian Imperial Stout. There's a very substantial quality to it. It's moderately carbonated, just enough to leave a nice tingle on the center of the tongue, but not so much as to distract from the flavors. As mentioned before, there was a nice subtle warmth imparted from the alcohol as well.

As with all the other Russian Imperial Stouts I've had, Old Rasputin was definitely not a gulper. It's meant to be savored and enjoyed over a longer period of time than it would normally take to consume a beer. However, unlike the other Russian Imperials I've had, I didn't feel like it was a chore to get through at any point, and felt like I could have had another without getting sick of the flavors. It was definitely the easiest to get down of the Russian Imperials I've had. It had a nice balance, complex flavors, but still didn't completely overpower the palate. I'd definitely recommend this one to others and I can see myself going back to try it again. Another strong offering from North Coast, so I'm looking forward to seeing what else they have out there.

- Adam

North Coast Brewing's Old No. 38 Stout

It's been a while since I've gotten to sit down and do a review. Honestly I haven't been trying out nearly as much lately. Since we started brewing our own beers, I haven't spent a lot on commercial beer. Partially it's because when you have 5 gallons of beer sitting around, it's a little unnecessary to go out and buy more. But it's also a price factor... brewing beer can be expensive. I think I dropped about $70 on ingredients last time I was at the home brew store. When you figure you can normally get about 52 bottles out of a 5 gallon batch, that means it's about $1.35 a beer, or $8.10 for a 6-pack. That's pretty consistent with the price of a commercial beer purchase, and in some cases even more expensive. So at some point, I just gotta say... if you want to see more reviews and less about home brewing on here, send me some money so I can afford beer!

Since the latest batch to go into bottles was a stout, I've got them on my mind. Stouts are one of my favorite styles now, which I still find amusing considering how much I didn't like the first one I tried. Anyway, I tend to go for a new stout before almost any other style unless there's something particular I'm in the mood for. Recently I had the opportunity to try Old No. 38 Stout from North Coast Brewing. North Coast is located in Fort Bragg, CA.

The Old No. 38 Stout is a Dublin Dry stout, and weighs in at 5.5% ABV. It poured a very dark brown, nearly black, with a hint of dark red around the edges. There was a light brown head, about a half finger thick, that dissipated to just a dusting rather quickly. The remains left a tiny bit of lacing, but not much to speak of.

The aroma was a strong roasty, almost coffee-like scent. The smell actually disappeared kind of quickly, until you get just a bit of a smokey smell. This was unusual in my experience, as normally the only smell that would not last throughout the beer is the initial hop aroma.

The taste was good, neither sweet nor bitter. Instead it had a strong roasted taste, with a bit of a sharp bready flavor. There was a touch of burnt flavor as well, but it was a nice addition and not unwelcome. The flavor isn't terribly strong, but definitely wasn't creamy. It was definitely an interesting flavor though, despite the fact that there wasn't a lot to it, simply because most beers tend either towards being sweet, bitter, or balanced between the two, but this one didn't really have any apparent swing towards sweet or bitter. It's hard to describe, but I think of it as a lack of either sweetness or bitterness, rather than a balance of the two. I know that sounds like it could be a bad thing, but it really wasn't.

The body of the beer was towards the heavy side, but it also had a substantial amount of sharp tingling carbonation. The level of carbonation did work nicely for me though. As the style implies, the beer had a dry quality to it. As I've learned from brewing myself, this is supposedly the result of a more complete level of fermentation of the sugars in the beer than normal. In other words, there aren't a lot of sugars left in the beer that haven't been converted into alcohol.

Overall it was a very good brew, and easy to get down. The flavor wasn't overwhelmingly strong, but I also didn't find it watery or weak. It's a flavor that sits well on the tongue. I could see this one becoming a regular for me when I'm looking for a stout, provided that it's available. I'm looking forward to trying more from this brewery at some point, as the Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout is supposed to be excellent.

- Adam