Le Coq & the History of Imperial Stout

Among fans of good beer, few styles are as universally loved as the Imperial Stout.  Flavorful, assertive, full of comforting notes of chocolate, dark fruit, roast coffee, & wrapped in a warming blanket of alcohol, the Imperial Stout is a big, boozy bear hug of a beer.  You’d be hard-pressed to find a beer geek who doesn’t have at least a couple of these bad boys in their personal top 10, & a third of the Top 100 Beers in the World on BeerAdvocate fall into the Russian Imperial Stout or American Double/Imperial Stout categories.  It’s a style that’s beloved, experimented on, & sought after (take a look at 3 Floyds’ Dark Lord Day, a pilgrimage for the hardcore beer nerd). 

Legend has it that the Russian Imperial Stout, as it’s traditionally known, has its origins in international relations.  Russian Tsaress Catherine the Great, on a trip to England, found stouts to her liking, & wished to have them imported to her home land.  The ruler was displeased to find that the beers didn’t survive the trip across the continent, & to satisfy her, English brewer Thrale’s concocted a stronger, more robust stout that would retain its character all the way to the Baltic ports.  Thus, although English in origin, the term Russian Imperial Stout was born, & the term “imperial” is now used by modern brewers to describe any version of a beer that is stronger, fuller, & boozier than its “non-imperial” counterpart. 

The death of Thrale’s owner left the original RIS in the hands of prominent British brewer Barclay Perkins, who shipped this powerful stout throughout Europe; one of its biggest distributors was the Belgian Albert Le Coq, who, at the request of the Russian government, moved to Russia & began brewing the stout within the country’s borders to dodge import taxes.  For years, Le Coq’s stout was the standard-bearer for the RIS style, until the Bolsheviks seized & nationalized the company in 1917.  The beer was the stuff of history, until about a decade ago when brewers in Estonia & England collaborated to resurrect the recipe & Le Coq was born again! 

Today, B. United International, importers of the renewed Le Coq label, bring this piece of beer history stateside.  The House is proud to carry Le Coq Imperial Extra Double Stout alongside other classic English examples such as Wells’ Courage Russian Imperial Stout & Thornbridge’s St. Petersburg Russian Imperial Stout.  Pick up a few, do a side-by-side comparison, or just sip & reflect on the origins of an iconic style of beer.  International relations never tasted so good!