The Last Best Beer Show

On this show, we invite in the Craft Beer Rasputin, Connor G. He is a beer server extraordinaire and one of the best guys in our local craft beer scene. And the kicker, he looks like Rasputin without the evil intent. With Connor and Barrel-Aged Diva, we explorer adventures in beer service. The Beers Firestone Walker … Continue reading Craft Beer Rasputin – Episode 11.16.17

We’re sorry, Rogue…Really Rogue’s Last Chance 7 Reasons Shaker Pint Glasses Suck 1. They were never intended for beer As the name suggests, shakers have been used behind the bar for more than a century to — yup! — shake cocktails. Thanks to their ubiquitous beginnings, easy stackability, and durable builds, the glasses were used … Continue reading We’re sorry, Rogue…Really – Episode 11.9.17

On this week’s show, we discuss spiders and lambic, the always delicious Taco Bell, and how beer can save the planet. And oh yeah, Rogue f*cks us again! Members of the press are invited to attend the inaugural COBREW-Fest on November 6, 2017 at Lolo Peak Brewing in Lolo, MT. COBREW, Inc. is hosting the … Continue reading Beers for the Earth – Episode 11.2.17

Happy Halloween, let’s drink scary beers and celebrate another excuse to enjoy a quality craft beer. What Do Witches and Brewers Have in Common? For much of history, women were responsible for the majority of beer brewing, as it fell in with other responsibilities around the home. The current male-dominated brewing industry would likely be considered … Continue reading Beeroween – Episode 10.26.17

The Russian Imperial Stout is perhaps the pinnacle of craft artistry with big, deep flavor profiles and winter nullifying ABVs. This might (emphasis on might) be my favorite beer style. In this episode, we talk about the history of the Russian Imperial Stout, the brutal death of Rasputin, and beer-proof sneakers. The featured beer of the week is the Old Rasputin from North Coast Brewing. Founders Doom Imperial IPA aged in Bourbon Barrels – 12.4% L: Pours a deep orange, with soft, thick head. A: Smell is a very interesting hybrid, pine and citrus upfront, backed by a sweet oaky vanilla. T: Taste is massive, oak and vanilla form the base for a pretty hefty bitterness and some warming booze. Smooth and sippable. M: Mouthfeel is a sticky medium, very smooth, and well carbonated What’s the difference between Double IPA, Imperial IPA, and Extra IPA? So Imperial is a catch-all indicating a higher ABV. It was co-opted from Russian Imperial Stouts, which are based on the higher-ABV English stouts that Empress Catherine of Russia used to import. There is no specific limit on Imperial, but you do notice trends. You see so-called Imperial Berliner weisse and Imperial cream ale in the 6%+ range, whereas Imperial IPA and Imperial stout don’t typically start until around 8% (the first year-round, mass-market Imperial IPA was Stone Ruination, back when it was 7.8%), but there’s no upper limit. So what we call Imperial is just a higher-alcohol version of a given base style. Double IPA and Triple IPA seem to be more specific, but both fall into the Imperial category. The idea is based on the Belgian abbey dubbels and tripels, which were marked with two or three X symbols for being higher alcohol strength. We now also market Belgian-style quads with this same idea. With IPAs, though, the breakdowns are typically along these lines: Session IPA: </= 5.5% IPA: 5.6% – 7.9% Double IPA: 8% – 9.9% Triple IPA: 10%+ Obviously, there is some bleed-over between these – the above was just a rough estimate and there is no governing body forcing anyone to use these labels. You also occasionally see quadruple IPAs, but i don’t think there’s any consensus on where that line should be or if we need it. As far as Extra IPA is concerned, the only one I know of is Sierra Nevada Torpedo, and my understanding was that they called it “extra” because of the copious amount of hops and the fact that they used the torpedo hop recirculator device to give it even more hoppy flavor. Lawsuit over Kona beer not being brewed in Hawaii may proceed Calling Hawaii “a state as well as a state of mind,” a federal judge refused to dismiss a lawsuit accusing the maker of Kona craft beer of misleading consumers into believing the beer was actually made in the 50th U.S. state, causing them to overpay. In a decision issued late on Friday, U.S. District Judge Beth Labson Freeman in San Jose, California, said the plaintiffs could pursue claims for damages over Craft Brew Alliance Inc’s packaging for six- and 12-packs of Kona. Just In Time For Oktoberfest, Adidas Is Releasing Beer Repellent Sneakers The German shoe company is set to release the “München “Oktoberfest” on Sept. 2, and it’s the kind of shoe that comes with style and a strong resistance to spilled beer. According to the video above, the sneakers are made from the finest leather and DPBR coating, which stands for durable puke & beer repellent. That’s right, not only does it remain undamaged from spilled drinks, but also vomit for all of you who can’t handle your shit. Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout | North Coast Brewing Co. – 9% L: Pours with a very thick consistency, like motor oil and is super brown/black in color A: Loads of deep dark chocolate, black coffee, creamy almond like liqueur, burnt black/chocolate malts, hints of licorice, rye bread and yeast, along with slight rummy vanilla/caramel sweetness near the finish T: This is quite a nice Imperial! The booziness hits the palate immediately and then quickly settles down, only after hitting the top of the palate with hopped bitterness! A M: Rich and full bodied, with smooth velvety carbonation! Rasputin’s Epic Death Out of a bizarre and amazing life, it’s perhaps Rasputin’s death that ends up being the craziest part of all. As WWI raged, and the Russian economy faltered, the Russian people, and most of the elite class that he’d alienated as well, had turned against the mystic monk. After a series of plots, a group of Russian nobles led by Prince Felix Yusupov and Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich, among others, decided to put an end to the monk’s sway over the Tsarina and the entire Russian government. On December 30, 1916, they lured him to a late night party with the promise that he’d be able to sleep with Prince Felix Yusupov’s wife. Once he was there, the group stalled him and gave him cake and wine that was laced with cyanide. It should have been enough to kill him, but it didn’t seem to affect him at all. Eventually, the Prince got tired of waiting and shot him in the back. Rasputin fell to the ground and the Prince left, but when he came back much later on, Rasputin was not only still alive, he lunged at the Prince and tried to strangle him, whispering, “You bad boy.” Yusupov got help, and his rich, noble friends ran in to shoot Rasputin three more times. Still not dead, Rasputin managed to get up and run out to the street. Once outside, they beat him viciously with sticks, and as if that wasn’t enough, they castrated him. Ouch. The group of them tied him in a carpet and threw him into a river, but apparently, he was still alive and trying to escape when he eventually drowned, as the autopsy would later confirm. What is a Russian Imperial Stout? When Peter the Great opened Czarist Russia to the West in the early 18th century, dark ales called “Porter” were all the rage in England. Arthur Guinness took the idea to Ireland, increased the dark, coffee-tinted profile and added “Extra Stout” to his label, thus creating another new beer style. Peter the Great fell in love with stouts during his 1698 trip to England, and he requested that some be sent to the Imperial court in Russia. Much to the embarrassment of the English, the beer had spoiled somewhere along its tedious thousand-mile journey! Determined as always to save face, the Barclay brewery of London came to the rescue by rapidly increasing the amount of alcohol and hops for their second effort. The result was an inky black concoction with enough warmth and complexity to immediately become a sensation throughout Russia. The “Russian Imperial Stout” had been born and quickly became popular throughout European Russia. Empress Catherine the Great of Russia (1729-1796) was very much a fan of Imperial Stout. The John Courage Brewery continued to brew its Imperial Stout, with the boast on its label that it was originally brewed by Imperial order of Catherine, up until the 1990s. While hugely popular through the 19th century, Porters had fallen away completely from consumer’s tastes by the end of the 20th Century. The style may have disappeared altogether were it not for the newfound bravado and quirkiness of the emerging craft brewing scene in the U.S. Anxious to brew all things intense, extreme and obscure, many small batch American brewers began resurrecting and re-inventing the old Russian genre. Today’s versions are even bigger and bolder than the originals. Beer-Brewing Monks Are Helping Rebuild Earthquake-Devastated Town In Italy Large sections of Norcia’s ancient walls lie in rubble. Its many centuries-old buildings are wrapped in steel girders, off-limits to the few people who visit what now looks like a ghost town.