Yak’s RIS (Russian Imperial Stout)

If you can drink Yak’s RIS, you can drink just about anything!  The Ginger Beer was supposed to last a month and only lasted 7 days….so we are releasing the next beer in the Haunted Beer Series early on Friday Dec 30th: a Russian Imperial Stout.  This style is thought by some to be the biggest, darkest, hoppiest, most alcoholic style of beer out there.  Two famous beers that even have their own celebratory day, Darkness from Surley and Dark Lord from Three Floyds were both based upon this style. 

The short history of the style is that it was produced in London England for an export to Russia (apparently Catherine the Great enjoyed this beer) and had to be bigger for two reasons (1) to handle the traveling the distance and (2) those Russians wanted something that would keep the hair on their chests (it gets cold during the winter).

Stylistically, this beer can be between 8-12% and Yak’s RIS lands around the halfway point at 9.8% ABV.  Black as night, very roasty, bitter chocolate with dark fruit notes from the malt and yeast esters.  This beer can have some harshness if served too young, so I’ve aged it 3 extra months for a smoother finish.

Stop by this weekend for a glass if you think the hair on your chest is thinning…

Prost!