The Russian Imperial Stout, by far one of my favorite styles of beers not only to drink but to brew as well. I have been a home brewer for 10 years now. What I love about the Russian Imperial Stout is its Coffee like aroma with its slight hint of chocolate. Russian Imperial Stouts have medium to aggressively high bitterness and a strong coffee like finish. When you drink a Russian Imperial Stout your mouth should be aware of its full-bodied and chewy characteristics, accompanied by a smooth warmth from the alcohol. The carbonation of a Russian Imperial Stout should be low to moderate depending on the age and conditioning. Overall be ready for an intense flavored beer with insane complexity.
Now that that we know what we are getting ourselves into let me tell you about Hoppin’ Frog’s Rocky Mountain D.O.R.I.S. Stout without actually seeing the brewing recipe I can tell the basic Russian Imperial Stout recipe is there. The aroma of roasted grains coffee and dark chocolate. The flavor has a rich deep intensity of roasted malts and grains, with a nice hop bitterness… Very impressive! Hopping Frog took all that and dumped it into a Whiskey Barrel! Now, when I compared this to other whiskey barrel aged beers I sometimes felt the brewers poured whiskey into the barrel while the Wort fermented to give it a strong whiskey taste. The Rocky Mountain D.O.R.I.S clearly only used the barrels natural flavors to give their beer just enough to make it a great addition to their already impressive line up.
-Well done Fred and the brewing team at Hopping Frog!
