Imperial Stout

An imperial stout pours very dark reddish-brown to jet black, opaque, with a deep tan head; when you swirl it, the alcohol leaves legs on the glass. It tastes of roasted, almost burnt malt, coffee and dark chocolate, then dried fruit such as raisin and prune, and finishes warm and bittersweet. At 8–12% it is a beer to sip.

Where it comes from

Its roots lie in the strong English porters brewed for export in the 1700s, said to have been popular at the Russian Imperial Court, hence the name Russian imperial stout. When the Napoleonic wars cut off trade, more of these beers stayed home in England. The style nearly disappeared, then came back with the craft beer era: in England as a revival export, and in the United States with American hops and more bitterness.

English versions lean on complex specialty malt and fruity yeast; American ones show more roast, more bitterness and more late hops. Brewers start from pale malt with a large share of roasted malt or grain. It ages well, and many breweries use it as a base for barrel-aged and flavoured beers.

How to serve it

Pour it at 10–13 °C into a snifter. Pair it with foie gras, an aged cheese or a flourless chocolate cake.

Next to its neighbours

An imperial stout is darker and roastier than a barleywine of the same strength, and far bigger and more complex than an Irish dry stout.

Imperial Stout in numbers

Original gravity

1.075–1.115

Final gravity

1.018–1.030

Food

Foie gras; aged cheeses; flourless chocolate cake

Classic examples

Samuel Smith Imperial Stout; Courage Imperial Russian Stout; Thornbridge Saint Petersburg; North Coast Old Rasputin; Great Divide Yeti; Bell’s Expedition Stout

BJCP style

20C Imperial Stout

Sources

Checked October 29, 2026.

1. 20C. Imperial Stout, 2021 Beer Style Guidelines — Beer Judge Certification Program
2. American Imperial Stout — CraftBeer.com, Brewers Association