BRAND: Raw Edge Brewing, Joseph City, AZ

NAME: Russian Imperial Stout

TYPE OF BEER: Russian Imperial Stout

ALCOHOL CONTENT: Unknown

IBUs (Bitterness Units): Guessing around 20 out of 100

PRICE: Homebrew; not available on the market.

DESCRIPTION: Here's a special beer review of a beer that was made by MANLAND members. That's right, Raw Edge Brewing is the work of Mr. Luke Straw and his neighbor Dan. Luke is a huge fan of Stout beers, so I'm not surprised that he chose a Russian Imperial Stout to brew. He sent me a bottle of it a month ago, and I finally got around to cracking it tonight. Here's my review.

The Beer Judge Certification Guidelines describes a Russian Imperial Stout as having a “rich, deep, complex and frequently quite intense, with variable amounts of roasted malt/grains, maltiness, fruity esters, hop bitterness and flavor, and alcohol. Medium to aggressively high bitterness. Medium-low to high hop flavor. Moderate to aggressively high roasted malt/grain flavors can suggest bittersweet or unsweetened chocolate, cocoa, and/or strong coffee.”

POUR/TASTE: Raw Edge's Stout is super carbonated. I had to really pour slow to not produce too much head on the beer. They must have put a healthy amount of sugar into each bottle pre-fermentation. (See pour picture.) Flavor-wise, I get a lot of sweetness from this brew: there's a chocolate-like presence that has a maple-syrup-like aroma. I'd like to taste more roasted malt and a bit more bitterness to make it true to the style (Imperial-style beers are known to be very aggressive, flavor-wise), but Raw Edge's Stout is a super easy to drink beer.

WOULD YOU BUY IT AGAIN? If it were for sale, yes! I'd like to try more of Raw Edge's creations. And important note about this beer is that it doesn't taste like a home brew. I could easy see this on tap in a beer joint near you. Kick-ass job guys ...