Beer of the Week: Stone Imperial Russian Stout

We used to do this, but it has dropped off lately, so in the spirit of resurrecting the dead, how about drinking some Stone? The new 2007 Imperial Russian Stout is out. Let's see what we think. If you can't get that one find another RIS and join the fun.

I had the Russian Imperial Stout at The Roundhouse (the late Walter Payton's brewpub in Aurora, IL). It was good, but a little more bitter than my favorite RIS's tend to be.

I'll go look for Stone's RIS, but I don't think I've seen stone beers before....

Decided to crack mine open last week. Strong roasted malt, coffee and bittersweet chocolate aromas with a whiff of alcohol. The flavor is similar with plenty of complex roasted notes, bittersweet chocolate and licorice flavors with a peppery hop and alcohol bite. Nice thick palate. Rather tasty but Expedition and Rasputin still rise above for me.

Toot said:

I had the Russian Imperial Stout at The Roundhouse (the late Walter Payton's brewpub in Aurora, IL). It was good, but a little more bitter than my favorite RIS's tend to be.

I'll go look for Stone's RIS, but I don't think I've seen stone beers before....

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I've looked around and been unable to find it in the Chicago area. A good substitute woule be Great Lakes Blackout Stout, North Coast Old Rasputin or Two Brothers Northwind, if you can find it!

Good idea resurrecting this idea, BP. I'm going to give the Blackout Stout a try this weekend!

LOL.. I have had 3 Blackout Stouts in the last 2 weeks and I have one left in the fridge right now, as a matter of fact.

It's delicious!!!!



By the way, I'm just a hop skip and jump from the Indiana border. Anybody know if Stone is available in Indiana?

Toot said:

LOL.. I have had 3 Blackout Stouts in the last 2 weeks and I have one left in the fridge right now, as a matter of fact.

It's delicious!!!!



By the way, I'm just a hop skip and jump from the Indiana border. Anybody know if Stone is available in Indiana?

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I believe there is a place on their web site to find out where they are distributed.

I never see this around....mebbe I am looking in the wrong place. I have seen the Bell's Expedition Stout but @ $57 a case, I have to pass. I have yet to sample an Imperial Stout period.

Toot said:

...By the way, I'm just a hop skip and jump from the Indiana border. Anybody know if Stone is available in Indiana?

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I'm 99% sure it is. And if you can't find it, how far are you from Munster?

Three Floyds releases their Dark Lord RIS this Saturday at their pub!

Rhoobarb said:

I'm 99% sure it is. And if you can't find it, how far are you from Munster?

Three Floyds releases their Dark Lord RIS this Saturday at their pub!

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Damn, if I lived even close to there I would be in line for the doors to open and tossed out on the curb at closing time. Head banging with skull numbing beverages. New Mexico needs to move into the Beer Century.

zoebisch01 said:

I never see this around....mebbe I am looking in the wrong place. I have seen the Bell's Expedition Stout but @ $57 a case, I have to pass. I have yet to sample an Imperial Stout period.

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I have a local source with singles of Expedition, Black Out, Stone IRS and a few others...perhaps you have something locally in the center that I can't get over here on the right side


Edit: I am the only person to have sampled this so far? There are more responses in this thread about other brews than the brew in question

Rhoobarb said:

I'm 99% sure it is. And if you can't find it, how far are you from Munster?

Three Floyds releases their Dark Lord RIS this Saturday at their pub!

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I am soooo there!!!!!! :rockin:


FWIW, anybody know what the bottle limit is going to be? I may pick up some extras for use as HBT trading material.

My 2007 Stone RIS is in the fridge awaiting the right moment. I need to get another for the cellar.

Did anyone make it to Three Floyds yesterday? I took the hour and a half drive to get down there at about 4:30 and they were already out of Dark Lord. They had some other great beers that made it worth the trip though. I guess I'll have to wait until next year.

I'll try and grab a Stone this week...otherwise I'll grab something else and review it. RIS's are really hard for me to review because I have such a poor ability to translate what my palate tells me into words and the good ones are always super complex, but what the hey!

Anyone else sample this yet?

Its excelent. I scored some by visiting the website to see where it's distributed. They don't keep it out in the open, only keep some in the back for people who ask for it. I lucked into 6 of them Drank 2 and I'm keeping the rest to open once every 6 months for the next 2 years.

Love Stones brews.

I had it as soon as the distributor dropped off the cases at our shop, long before this thread got posted. I'd been waiting for it. Didn't see this thread till today though.

Damn fine stuff. Viscous, a little "hot" from the ABV, strong roasted flavors and aroma. Bitterness is spot-on for an RIS, though, but I'm missing some kind of hop flavor/aroma. I like this stuff, alot, but for my money, I'm a bigger fan of Avery's 'Czar'. I know some people on these boards like to hate on Avery, but damnit, the Czar and Mephistopheles are magnificent. But regardless, I love the Stone version too. Highly recommended.

It's tough to drink Stone when I can get Black Panther at Golden Valley.

david_42 said:

It's tough to drink Stone when I can get Black Panther at Golden Valley.

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I would love to try it...shame they don't seem to distribute far and wide.

I've got mine. So which week is this beer the BOTW? Anyone else interested in doing a weekly tasting and reviving the Beer of the Week?

Let's just get crackin'. I don't have a Stone (yet), but I'm pretty I've got an IS in the fridge.

Evan! said:

I had it as soon as the distributor dropped off the cases at our shop, long before this thread got posted. I'd been waiting for it. Didn't see this thread till today though.

Damn fine stuff. Viscous, a little "hot" from the ABV, strong roasted flavors and aroma. Bitterness is spot-on for an RIS, though, but I'm missing some kind of hop flavor/aroma. I like this stuff, alot, but for my money, I'm a bigger fan of Avery's 'Czar'. I know some people on these boards like to hate on Avery, but damnit, the Czar and Mephistopheles are magnificent. But regardless, I love the Stone version too. Highly recommended.

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Funny, I made almost the same comment about the missing hop/flavor component to a friend that was eyeing my bottle the other week like a vulture around roadkill. My local still has numerous bottles available so I might just have to cellar a couple after all.

In the past I would buy a case of each of the Stone releases as they came out. I'd have barley wine, the imperial stout, the vertical epics, double bastard, and whatever anniversary beer they decided to release.

Lately though, I've been less impressed with them. They seemed to have settled. The 06.06.06 wasn't really that inspirational at all, and it seems that once you've had it a few years in a row something that was interesting pretty much just becomes average.

Of course, I only live 30 miles from their brewery so I can find it on every corner. But I find that lately I'm more impressed with the batch releases from Ballast Point and Alesmith and even the Pizza Port and that Stone is just sort of treading water.

I kind of miss when I would get really excited about their releases and rush out to buy all I could find. I still drink their beer from time to time (had a double bastard the other night) but I'm finding more and more that they just don't inspire me anymore.

Oh and since this is a stout thread, I'll gladly pick up a growler fill of Speedway tomorrow and let you all know how that goes.

F'n Speedway! the other night i got ogled in to drinking 1.5 pints, in addition to all of what I was drinking that night... let just say say I crashes my bike twice riding home that night, and stumbled in to my front window, cracking it...F'n speed way. It should only be served in an 8oz goblet, never a pint glass...I think I was drunk till noon the next day after that...good stuff though, nice coffee flavor but not too over powering, it's just the 12% alcohol that gets you.

Well what do ya know, a buddy dropped off a few commercial beers in exchange for regular homebrew samples and I got another Stone IRS!

How does the Beer of the Week thing work? Everyone commits to trying the same beer and we try to get a bunch of reviews at one time?

I haven't had the Stone RIS, but I just might give it a shot. Victory Storm King is one of the finest beers I've ever tasted. :rockin: