Free State Ironman Imperial Stout

The Imperial Stout style originated in Great Britain where the early Industrial Revolution was allowing brewers to achieve much greater levels of production. This greater production capacity led to a healthy export trade. Under the name "porter" and later "stout", strong, hearty, dark beers were shipped of to the chilly Northern Europeans. The reasons for the strength of these beers were probably twofold. First, the colder climates up north made a strong, warming beer more desirable and second, the long sea voyage was far from the ideal condition for handling beer. The high alcohol levels, high hop levels, and in some cases, an active secondary fermentation during shipment, helped to stave off infections in the beer. As far as the second reason goes, this was already a practice in use for shipping India Pale Ales. The beer came to be known as "Imperial" Stout due to it's popularity in Russia where the Empress Catherine the Great commissioned a British brewery to supply the Imperial Court with the strong ale. Our Imperial Stout brewed to an Original gravity of 19.5 °P using 10 different types of malt, which combined, weigh 1,465 lbs. That works out to 3.4 lbs per gallon of finished beer or almost 4/10ths of a pound in every glass. The dark malts give a roasty flavor and dark color, caramel malts add sweetness and a full body. Three different hop varieties also add their own complexity (and about 78 IBUs). The bittering hop is Magnum. The early aromatic hops are Northern Brewer. The later aromatic Centennial. The final hop addition is a dry hop with a generous dose of Mt. Hood hops for a fine aroma The Ironman is named for one of our favorite regular customers, Walt Hull, who is a local blacksmith.