Review: Old Rasputin XII

I saved this beer for something special and when I found out I was getting promoted I went home and popped the cork on this!

This beer is their Old Rasputin that's been barrel aged in Bourbon Barrels. I've had the Old Raspy (the regular one) and I wasn't particularly impressed. I felt it tasted like charcoal. When I popped the cork on this it had a subtle pop due to the low carbonation of this beer. (Imagine popping the cork on champagne, and how much it's carbonated. This wasn't like that) Immediately as I poured this beautiful ebony beer into my snifter I could smell the bourbon. Behind that was a very dark cocoa, like if it was strait off the tree. This bourbon in the taste cannot be overlooked. You can taste the fruityness of the bourbon that's only there because of the aging in the barrels. A little woodiness is apparent too, but you're more likely to experience the chocolate as the other dominant characteristic. The aging smoothes it out, and the taste of bourbon is deceptive. It seems as if the alcohol character is big, but it's not. The alcohol is masked quite nicely, but at 11.2% that may not be a great thing. The body is medium. I'd expect this from an IPA or DIPA, but my stouts I enjoy a thicker and fully body. The taste of this beer completely overcomes any of it's weaknesses. It's a definite pleasure to drink! I'm glad I waited to drink this for my promotion!

Glassware

Beeradvocate.com has a great article about the importance of the correct glassware for the style of beer you're about to enjoy. Not all beers are created equal. Some beg to showcase their dancing carbonation while others are brewed to have an extraordinary aroma. Some brewers have actually engineered their glass before they have actually brewed the beer. Beer glasses come in many shapes and sizes. All of them have a different purpose.

I personally own eight different glasses that are used for a wide variety of styles. Here is the article that goes into more detail about the different styles that correlate with each glass. For me my glasses are like trophies. Each glass has a different story to it. For example my Carlsberg England World Cup Commemorative Glass was **cough** stolen **cough** for me by my buddy that went to England. The glass that means the most to me though is my generic Arrogant Bastard pint glass. Beside it being a great glass that can hold a wide variety of different styles in it, Arrogant Bastard was the beer that got me into drinking craft beer. Everytime I drink a beer out of the glass or glance at it on my shelf I remember my first ABA! Do you have any glassware stories?

Supplication and Russian River

I walked into my local beer store the other day and I was surprised to see that Supplication was still left. I was hesitant to buy it when it was released because of the high price tag and my lack of knowledge of this beer. I know Russian River makes amazing beers but, I wasn't ready to splurge $15 on a beer I wasn't familiar with. After talking to a few people about it, I regretted I didn't buy it when I had the chance. When I saw it at the beer store I was excited and immediately took it to the counter and bought it.

When I poured it into my tulip glass the active carbonation danced and propped up a frothy head. I expected the added cherries would have the overly sweetened bar cherry flavor. This is not the case. The cherries taste just as natural as if I had picked them from the tree myself, and the wood from the oak barrel aging adds a layer of complexity to the flavor that's just right. What is most interesting about this beer, and what I enjoyed the most was the sourness of it. When you finish your sip the tartness begs you to take another and leaves your mouth watering for more.

As I finish this amazingly complex beer I'd like to talk about Vinnie Cilurzo and his brewery Russian River that made this beer and some other extraordinary beers. This is what craft brewing is all about! Aging beers in ways you wouldn't normally try. Adding flavors and layers of complexity to beers that begs you to come back again and again to find explore every nook and cranny the complexity these beers have to offer. Craft beer is an art. and Vinnie is an artist. His Pliny the Elder was my favorite IPA. I thought I could never find anything that came close to the deliciousness that bottle had, but when I had Pliny the Younger, also made by Vinnie, it blew the Elder out of the water. Vinnie has a talent and I suggest you pick up anything that says "Russian River Brewing Company" on it.

Hidden Gems

Hello All,

I am starting this blog to educate and inform the people that want to drink great beer, but have been misled and taken down the wrong route by the macro brewing companies that sell sub-par beer at premium prices. Sure we all have our guilty pleasures, whether they be Stella, Newcastle, or Heineken, but in the end it is more of the same, and if you pay a premium price you should get a premium product.

In my first post I would like to focus on a beer that may get lost in the fields of rice, adjuncts and vicious marketing tactics by the macro brewers. Tonight I was at a local downtown bar. I did not expect much from this bar because it was a hot spot among the new of-age drinkers that frequent this establishment. When I saw Stone IPA I was shocked to say the least. Stone makes incredible beers. Stone, by far, is my favorite brewery and to see a beer that actually tastes great, stays to the style it is representing, and having a character of its own at an establishment that screams A-B (Anheuser-Busch) from the top of it's lungs is surprising. Now the Back Alley in Fullerton is not the only place that I have experienced this. The Cheesecake Factory carries beers that you wouldn't expect them to. I had a Firestone Double Barrel Ale there, and it may not be the rarest beer ever made it sure is tastier than fizzy yellow Miller Light.

Keep an eye out for the beers that don't have a familiar name. These are the ones that probably taste the best! Having a little curiosity will take you down a path that you never knew existed! The complexity of beer can be compared to the complexity of wine and some may say that beer is more complex than wine (www.beeradvocate.com). Great beer is just a restaurant, grocery store, or specialty retailer away. Exploration is half the fun. The other half is the higher ABV you will probably get from this beer!