New Zealand Brewed Imperial Stouts.

 

With winter starting to give a decisive kick in the down under, a comforting stout seems the obvious choice. Imperial stouts were brewed originally in England as porter beers but were brewed extra strong so that the beer could be transported without deteriorating on its journey to the imperial court and Empress of Russia, so hence the name. And here I’m thinking that Russian imperial stouts were named that way because the beer was brewed by imperial Russians, what a mistaka to makea. So if anybody can brew an imperial stout without having to be a Russian, how well do the New Zealand craft brewers go at it?

Here’s my tasting of two Imperial stouts from two different NZ craft breweries.

The ‘Nokabollokov Imperial Stout’ from ‘The Twisted Hop’ abv 8%

The blurb on the label indicates that the Nokabollokov is styled as a Russian stout and these stouts were brewed by English breweries and made extra strong to keep from freezing when being transported. So this is should stop me from freezing by drinking one of these on a cold winter nights right?

I always have a sense of excitement when trying a new beer, like a Pom awaiting a royal birth, and after quickly whipping this stout out of the fridge and opening the bottle to get into the experience I then read that it should be served ideally at 10 – 12degrees, hmmm, I’ll wait a bit for it to warm up then have a taste.

60 seconds later I’m sipping on what looks like a coffee crema headed beer that smells of raspberry and dark chocolate. Initial taste and it has a smoky almost burnt flavour but after some moments swirling the brew around in the glass warming it with my hands, the flavour takes on whole new dimensions. The flavour mellows and tastes way smoother with a rich malty bite and dark chocolate overtones and now no hints of any overcooked malt.

Who needs a cold beer? Drinking an almost room temperature stout is my comfort food this time of year and the Kokabollobov is definitely something worth chewing on and gets a 7.5/10!

‘Bumaye’ Imperial Stout by 8 Wired Brewing Co.

These guys are great brewers and specialise in seeing how far they can take it, with flavour being the main objective and I know they make a superb IPA so their imperial stout with a humongous 16% abv would be rude not to try. Yes you read right, 16% abv, I had to get out a magnifying glass just to confirm that I was reading the label right. In other words, 4.2 standard drinks in a 330ml bottle, phew, a new personal best for alcohol content in a beer!

Extreme alcohol never seems to raise a head but instead when poured you can see a beautiful red halo around the edge of the glass that surrounds a deep dark colour. Smelling somewhat of a coffee porty aroma it tastes of a rich maltnificence with strong ruby port overtones. You can lick your tongue around your mouth after a sip and wipe off a chocolate sensation. After the swallow there is a huge taste explosion and with so much malt coming through and is somehow not sweet but counterbalanced with a truckload of hops for a resounding smack of bitterness. This baby has got some boot and is at the extreme end of the dark beer continuum and should be applied very carefully, ideally just before bedtime. 9/10