What's your favorite Beer?
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I'm sorry to hear about your grandmother @Seul
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Sorry about your gran, Eli.
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14?! Oh,baby!
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Just curious,Do any of you guys think that “Imperial” is over used in the beer world these days? I know that historically Imperial beers were beers that were exported to Russia. Not sure what if anything,other than marketing, it means today. It’s not like all Imperial beers must have certain ingredients to be called that,and who’s checking? It’s like if IH wanted to make Imperial jeans,whose to say they’re not? Just a thought.
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It basically means the alcohol content is jacked up and the beers are brewed for a more robust flavour. Both these things were originally done so that the beer tolerated the rough sea journeys (over the Baltic Sea in the case of Imperial Stouts, all the way to India in the case if Brown and Pale ales) and the extended time in the barrel.
Your essentially right though, in as far as there aren’t really any hard and fast rules, just traditions and norms. These can be played with for the sake of creativity or exploited for marketing.
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The first beer that I was aware of being an Imperial Stout, was Old Rasputin,which I didn’t care for,so I thought maybe I don’t like Imperial stouts,but I’ve quite liked some,and not liked some others. I consider myself to be a fairly knowledgeable beer drinker,but I can’t put my finger on what makes me like or dislike said beer. Unfortunately not all things are equal. If it’s spent some time inside a bourbon barrel,or has been aged with coffee or vanilla or some combination there of,odds are I’m going to like it. It doesn’t influence my decision one way or the other as far as purchasing is concerned,and don’t know if I’m paying more when it says Imperial on the label. To me the over under on the alcohol content,being jacked up is 10%.
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That’s basically it. If you’ve brewed a stout to >9% then it’s Imperial. Fekking around with coffee, bourbon, vanilla or whatever is optional (and often very tasty). I’ll buy most things that say «Imperial» on them for three reasons:
1. I like robust beers with lots of action
2. I’m a booze hound
3. If, as a brewery, your making anything «Imperial» it should be good or I’ll lose all respect.With regards to the last, my favourite beer types are Impy Stouts, impy or double IPA’s, Barley wines and Porters. If you make those well I’ll love you forever. Still amazes me how often they fekk it up though.
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I tend to gravitate towards oatmeal and milk stouts,though I doubt I could tell them apart in a blind taste test. There’s also a very good oatmeal/milk stout from a local brewer that I love. Porter was the first dark beer I ever drank,and still do to this day. Have a soft spot for Samuel Smith’s Toddy Porter. What got me to pose this question to this thread is I’m confused as to how to react when I see a brewer that previously didn’t use Imperial on their label now using it. Since they’re not required to list the exact ingredients,I don’t know,what,if anything, is different.No matter what your buying wether it be high end denim or beer,you hate to feel like you fell for it.Have never felt that way with IH,but occasionally with alcohol. Example spent $75 for a bottle of Jefferson’s Ocean because it had spent 6 months on a boat,sloshed around crossed the equator etc. Felt,totally,suckered. It was good,just not $75 good.
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This is better every time I have it
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Wow wow wow
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Stouts used to be stronger than porters, historically… Today, most of the time a porter won't contain roasted barley, but in reality there's no more exact difference anymore... There are porters with over 10% alc so...
Old Rasputin is a specific style of stout which I don't like that much either... It's the "old" style, with lots of hops, resulting in an extremely dry and bitter stout... "Old" (English) style barleywines are the same...
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@Jett129 I was thinking about what we discussed today and asked the Beer Genius at the local Monopoly store about his understanding of the word "Imperial". Apart from it's historical origins he believed that today it is used not just to convey strength in terms of ABV and taste, but also when the brewer wants to convey quality and excellence. The pinnacle of brewing of that beer type. He conceded that it could be and probably has been used to add a few dollars to the price of a otherwise poor quality but boozy bottle of beer.
I rarely buy anything under 8% ABV these days, the exceptions being great traditional brews that are below this point, some old school geuze for example, the occasional IPA that I like, or a weaker beer brewed by a maker that I tend to follow. I'll neck some 5% pilsners while watching the footie too. But drinking beer for the beers sake, it's nearly always 8% plus. This begs the question that @Seul indirectly raised earlier, if a 9% porter isn't tagged as imperial, should I doubt it's quality? The answer is of course no, or at least, not necessarily. So the term is almost certainly overused.
That being said, my approach to buying bottles is to try as much as possible and keep a small stock of real favourites. For me it's half the fun. In that respect the term doesn't really impact on me. Dark strong beers are my favourites, certainly in the colder months, so I'd buy and try a lot of so-called Imperial beers even if they didn't have that tag.
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This is one of my favorite threads,I've learned quite a lot from you guys. @neph93 Thanks so much for the response,enjoyed the back and forth last night. I'm not always cognizant of alcohol content,but my son will point it out to me. Relative to you guys I've got a pretty limited selection where I live,on the odd occasion I spot something that one of you guys have had,I'll grab it immediately. Never been disappointed. I'm a real big fan of the Nitro stouts and Porters,and a brewer called Left Hand makes a Nitro Russian Imperial Stout,called Wake The Dead that I can't imagine you wouldn't like. Still hope to have a beer with you some day.
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For me it's just as important to know of a good 5-6% stout or porter as it is to know of a 10-14% impy stout… Much harder to find though...
When they show up they're great. That Canadian brewery, the name of which I forget now has a stout at around 5-6% called Aphrodite. It's bloody lovely. The Hooker's Point coconut porter is (?) is around there too and bloody lovely. Sorry about the lack of googling. Too many rods in the fire… (not prison slang).
