Brian Owens, head brewer at O’Fallon Brewery, recently confirmed details on its forthcoming Russian imperial stout, a variety of beer supposedly popularized by Catherine the Great in the late 18th century.
“It just finished primary fermentation in the tank,” he said. “It probably won’t be released till at least mid-December.”
Production of the stout reflects a recent upgrade at O’Fallon. “We just renewed our liquor license two weeks ago, to 22 percent alcohol – we were limited by 5 percent by weight previously,” Owens noted. “The Russian imperial was a last-minute idea to experiment with our current yeast strain, our house yeast strain, to see what the alcohol tolerance of the strain would be.
“We used a bit of blackstrap molasses to bring out a unique flavor,” he continued. “There’s a decent amount of residual sweetness in it, so it’s really gonna be a little bit lighter of a color but still lots of roasted flavors.”
O’Fallon brewed only seven barrels of the imperial stout, Owens said, which will limit the number of kegs available to the brewery’s draft accounts. He projected that Cicero’s, International Tap House and other specialty bars in the area would offer the imperial stout, which will be 9.5 percent alcohol by volume.
This article appears in Dec 1-31, 2009.