The origins of imperial stout are tied tightly to the history of porter in eighteenth-century England (think decorative lights in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation tight). You can see our post on porter for a bit more info on how that beer became so popular, but once it was the hot commodity in northern Europe, the bigger commercial breweries in London began brewing an imperial version for export to the Baltic region (Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia) and Russia. 

Exported versions of any style were often brewed with significantly higher hopping rates (10 lb/bbl in the early imperial stouts for you hop heads out there!) and a higher alcohol content for their long journey to those countries. There is now some discussion among beer writers as to whether styles like this, including IPA, evolved as a purely practical matter–they needed the alcohol and bitter hop acids to combat infection–or if other factors were at play. Whatever the case, the story goes that the Russian court, and specifically Catherine the Great, loved the style. We don’t blame her…this stuff will warm your soul, and we need all the help we can get for about eleven months each year in northern Vermont.

Imperial stout helped break the trend of flavorless canned fizzy water here in the states (respect) when Merchant du Vin asked the folks at England’s Samuel Smith Brewery to make an imperial stout for the American market. Craft producers became interested in brewing it, and American consumers obliged. Although it might be hard to imagine, the style as we know it today is relatively young and evolving quickly. American brewers have done just about anything you could imagine to imperial stouts, including aging them on fruit and spices, brewing them with hot peppers and sauces, and aging them in spirit and wine barrels (these are some of our favorite versions here in the brewery). Over the past several years, a new trend of culinary-inspired imperial stouts have exploded in the craft beer world, including beers that taste like s’mores, black forest cake, vanilla truffles, and cinnamon rolls to name a few.

Imperial stout is a beer that requires patience. Patience on brew day, patience as it conditions to perfection, patience when you open a bottle and sip it by the fire, and, if you’re able, patience to age a few of them for several years and see how they change.