There was a time where I would see a beer like this and think “woof”. But the benefit of no longer being a wide-eyed, dumb 21 year old, is that I don’t have to impress anyone with taking 10 beers to the face. So I can take it easy and have one or two Imperial Stouts. Still, at 9.4%, this can easily give you the spins.
Without any research done, all I could tell you about a Russian Imperial Stout is that it’s essentially a stout, but more hops and much stronger. Google tells me this was on purpose; back in the 1600’s, the Russian Czar Peter the Great fell in love with stouts, on a diplomatic visit to London. Beers were sent up the Baltic, but none were surviving the journey by the time they made it to Russia. So, they went for the simple fix and overloaded it with dark malts and hops. When I came out of my IPA phase (more on that for another post. I’m pretty much still in one since I can’t stop drinking them, but I want to make fun of people that do), I found it easier to have beers with high IBUs and a hoppy profile to compare. Enter: stouts and porters. I hope to have an abundance of them reviewed, and Imperial Stouts kind of hit that sweet spot for me between dark/malty, and hoppy/bitter.
For Dust Bowl’s creation, Black Blizzard has all the stuff you love. Roasted barley, chocolate (a surprising amount), coffee. I again had it canned so maybe the steel-flavor you pick up has something to do with how sharp it feels in the mouth. It also has a lower level of carbonation and honestly, I think it could use a bit more age. Still a fantastic beer and one you should experiment with if you’re not a fan of stouts!