UPDATED: JAN 5, 2022 Old Rasputin Imperial Stout is my favorite beer. And I am thinking “don’t mess with my favorite beer .” But you messed with my favorite beer. Bourbon is not my favorite whiskey. When you mix the two my favorite beer is the loser.

UPDATED: DEC 22, 2021 Bottle (XVII vintage) - Long story short, I've had my eye on this beer for years, but the price was always the obstacle... until tonight. Nose is dark chocolate, vanilla, bourbon, light nuttiness, and leather. Sip adds more nuttiness and booze. Smooth but a tad harsh at the same time. Smoother with every sip if not flat out mellow. This is going down too quickly...

UPDATED: DEC 11, 2021 Тонкая светлошоколадная пенная шапка Плотность в бокале ощущается, но из-за газации кажется жидковатым Бурбон ощущается, шоколад, горечь. В запахе бурбон

UPDATED: NOV 14, 2021 Vintage XV (2015)...Follow me @ Kung av öl @ Facebook and Instagram for more pictures and ratings.

UPDATED: SEP 27, 2021 XXIII / Pours a pitch black with a small brown head. Bold malty aroma with notes of molasses and Bourbon. Medium body. Oily texture with lots of lacing. Smooth, creamy and lightly carbonated. Full mouth feel with a roasted malt flavor and a nice warming sensation. Not overly boozy. Finishes with a lingering warm malty aftertaste. Very enjoyable.

UPDATED: SEP 24, 2021 Black + Tan - Nose is heavy on the wood, cocoa, notes of cherry, cinnamon. Big woody flavors, chocolate, phenols, licorice. Not especially boozy, but a little astringent. Not bad.

UPDATED: JUL 15, 2021 12 oz bottle. Pours black with a tan head. Sweet bourbon brown sugar and cocoa aroma with some roast. Flavor is strong in bourbon, dark fruit, and molasses, syrupy cocoa with vanilla and a touch of roastiness. More roast and coffee in the finish. A good one.

UPDATED: JUN 3, 2021 12 ounce bottle - XXIII - pour is nearly black - nose is heavy with bourbon and oak, as is the flavor, but manages not to get overly boozy - flavor is medium sweet, but finishes with a dry oakiness and even a hint of oxidation and tartness - warming finish with lingering oak - nicely done, but not stellar.

UPDATED: MAY 17, 2021 Bottle pour, deep brown, strong dark chocolate aroma. Hint of soy and char, Dark chocolate, coffee and a light bourbon finish. This is not sweet like most of these stouts. Really nice!

UPDATED: APR 19, 2021 Old Rasputin, one of the great classics in the field of American imperial stout from the earlier days of U.S. craft brewing, aged on bourbon barrels: this one I had to taste. Thanks to Craftmember for scoring – and sharing – this bottle! Thick and frothy, shred-lacing, yellowish-beige, stable head on a black beer with glowing ‘bordeaux’ edges. Aroma of lots of vanilla-like oak wood, wooden furniture even, ‘fondant’ chocolate, coconut flakes, old raisins, Brazil nuts, furniture wax, sweet bourbon, toffee, latté macchiato, chestnuts, hazelnut paste, mocha, nougat. Dried figs and old raisins at first, sweet but in a refined and non-cloying way with a faint dried porcini-like umami edge, refined and small-bubbled in carbonation, smooth and vinous, full mouthfeel – though far removed from the excessive viscosity found in many imperial stouts of younger descent; black-chocolatey, pecan- and walnutty malt core, layered and tasty with a soft toasty bitter edge – remaining more sweet than bitter even when this cappuccino-ish roasty touch sets in. The roasted bitterness stays on the soft side, instead the necessary balance against the sweetness comes from the barrel treatment here, bringing a lot of vanilla-scenting, tannic oakinness, accompanied by a deeply situated, yet important peppery hop bitterness. This is truly high class drinking, a beverage from a more civilized era I would almost say – or at least from an era when refinement, balance and elegance were more common in imperial stouts than boastful syrupiness and sticky sweetness. I absolutely love a solid old school stout like Old Rasputin and this barrel aged variant is indeed even an improvement of the legendary original.