Modern Flavor Magazine 1/2015 Modern Flavor Magazine 1/2015 | Page 43

Russian Imperial Stout
By Chris Miller on January 2, 2015

photo credit: beerstreetjournal.com
It’s time to get deeper into winter, and that means rich, strong ale.
What better place to start than Russian Imperial Stout?
Its name is a red herring, so to speak. Russian Imperial Stout comes
from history of England, much like most darker beers. The British
exported strong beer, and just as with India Pale Ale, there’s a link to
where it’s exported greatest. The British Porter was heavily in style in
the 1700s (and in the American colonies, as well). The term “stout”
was still a descriptor and not yet a separate style, though you can
argue fairly heavily on marketing versus style names in modern days.
The name Stout and Russian Imperial Stout were not yet in the
vernacular, but it would quickly get its name (again, from marketing).
The style was first pushed to Russia after emperor Peter III visitied
England in 1698. Catherine the Great, longest and most renowned
female Russian emperor, oversaw Russia’s golden age, but she
loved her beer strong and dark. Citing Anchor Brewery’s information