Old Rasputin Stout

I thought it high time to break out the stouts and the darks that have been living in my understairs cupboard being horded for winter since the summer. Which is simply to say that I finally got round to actually drinking some of the beer I have stashed about the place. Tonight I shall be sampling the striking looking Old Rasputin Stout from Tollgate Brewery that I have had lurking about since September, when I bought it with the Duffield Amber (see here) so it's been waiting a while is what I'm saying.

Dark night, fire burning instead of having the heating on and free, for a moment, of the pressure of marking and planning. Time then to delve deep into a style of ale that is associated with Imperial Russia and likely is apocryphal. Not that I care, I like the modern style of Imperial Stouts and I feel that I haven't had nearly enough of them recently given that they regularly top my lists when I go out or spend time at a beer festival.

Would you like to know more?

Duffield Amber

There's a new pub in a village and it does bottled ales. It's too far for me to drink there, I'd have to drive home, and so bottled ales seem the way to go. It's in Duffield. It seemed fitting, therefore, to purchase a Duffield Amber to have of an evening. the photograph below shows what happens when you accidentally knock the bottle over before pouring - you get a massive head. Whoops. This is from Tollgate Brewery and I have a stout of theirs on standby.

Relatively little to say in preamble to this but where have all the stouts gone? Ah well, would you like to know more?