Joshua M. Bernstein, Gourmet.com's beer columnist, has written about brews, bars and booze for New York Magazine, Imbibe Magazine, Time Out New York, ForbesTraveler.com and The New York Times. Paul Philippon likes his beers coal-colored and Rockefeller-rich.
Since founding Farmville, N.C.'s Duck-Rabbit Craft Brewery (its animal hybrid logo hails from a Ludwig Wittgenstein book) in 2004, the philosopher turned microbrewer has dedicated himself to crafting blackout brews.
"I really love the range of flavors available in dark beers," says Phillippon, who manufactures silky porters, subtly sweetened milk stouts and this strapping heavyweight: the Rabid Duck Russian imperial stout.
First brewed in England during the 1800s to curry favor with Russian czars, the imperial is the alpha stout. Its ox-incapacitating alcohol percentages (10 percent and higher are common) and mammoth chocolate and roasted-malt flavors make this a slow-sipper -- a belly-stoker akin to whiskey.
And the Rabid Duck is no gentle lamb. This bruising stout is "like a cup of very strong coffee made by someone who's angry with you," Philippon says.
In a good way. The Rabid pours obsidian, a thick abyss with a creamy russet crown. Aroma-wise, intense dark fruits, licorice and fresh-ground coffee dominate, "while the flavors don't pull any punches," Philippon warns. There's a boozy, full-bore blast of dark cherries, bitter chocolate and fire-roasted malts, with the flavors growing more robust and decadent as the beer warms between your palms. It's a kingly brew, a treat fit for serfs and czars alike.
Got a favorite stout for unseasonably cool summer evenings (or, heck, days)? Spill in the comments.
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