Wine enthusiasts often scoff at the sight of a catchy label or wine name. Even with my wine purchases at a minimum, the influence of sommelier relatives and friends with good taste has led me to stray far from bottles advertising adorable animals, movie stars, and the like.
Anyone who has had a beer in the past fifteen years knows that this is not the case with beer. Names like "Arrogant Bastard" (Oaked being my personal favorite), "Old Leghumper," and "The Edmund Fitzgerald" (either commemorating the shipwreck or that epic Gordon Lightfoot tune) prove that not only can names be out there, but so can the taste of the beer contained within.
This brings me to tonight's beer, "The Czar," courtesy of Avery Brewing Company. The name alone made me happy, let alone the bottle design: a backdrop of the double-headed eagle and the featured portraits of three Romanov Tsars. Not that I'm advocating tsardom, imperialism, or any of the like. But come on, what isn't awesome about 300 years of ruthless - or just plain oblivious in the case of Nicholas II - rule in possibly one of the most complex countries on planet earth? If you answered "nothing," then we clearly have to be friends.
Anyway, back to the beer. It's an Imperial Stout...go figure. For years, I had a bit of an aversion to stouts, primarily because all I had been introduced to was Guinness. People might hate me for this statement, but I just never really liked it all that much. Too much hype, too little substance. Then I began trying Imperial Stouts, Belgian Stouts, Coffee Stouts, etc. and suddenly the world changed. Stouts are a veritable meal among beers, consisting of roasting malt/barley and adding various ingredients until a dark, strong, typically thick beer is produced.
Imperial Stouts are a beer straight out of Russian history. Literally. They're also referred to as "Imperial Russian Stouts" for the simple reason that Catherine II (the Great) ordered an English brewery to produce them back in the late 1700s. In order to ship the delicious brew to the ever-frigid Russian Empire, the alcohol content was increased (from approximately 8% to around 11 or 12% ABV).
Opening up this beer, I was hit in the face with aroma automatically, which is always a good start. Imagine what the French or German Armies felt like when they first heard Russian winter was coming and their leaders had packed light. Surprising, right? I poured this into my handy Piraat glass and simply experienced darkness: the color of this beer is a blackish, murky brown with touches of crimson. The head was minimal, but that was a bit expected. The beer smells rich, complex, unforgiving - traits typically shared by the Russian monarchy. These guys either read their history books, or just brew intense beer. I'm guessing a combination of both.
The taste is sweet, a bit smoky, with dark fruits and the sense that there's some alcohol lurking in the shadows that will probably come and bite you later on. Frankly, having tasted it, I disagree that Nicholas II is pictured center stage; I'll go ahead and say this tastes like something Ivan IV (the Terrible) would take a swig of before bringing the pain on some unsuspecting boyars. Nicholas II just didn't have that sort of intensity. This Imperial Stout is hardly about to give up the throne without a fight.
So before I get too carried away, I'll conclude this review. I'm really enjoying this beer (I still have a large chunk of the bottle to work on) and highly recommend it, particularly for those of you who are Slavophilic history dorks like myself. Just be warned, this is a hefty beer, so enjoy with caution.
Avery Brewing - The Czar ****/***** (4 out of 5 stars)
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