Stone dropped "Russian" from their classic RIS

Beer Talk
1

I had Stone Imperial Stout a few days ago and assumed it was a completely new beer. I started to gather details to add the beer in the database, and then I started to notice a few things such as the ABV being the same as the classic Russian Imperial Stout. Then the language on their website about how it being a classic recipe from the 00s, but it’s not in the DB…

Then it hit me. They removed “Russian” from the name. I’m laughing at the absurdity of it all.

Anyone else notice this at other breweries over the last year? I did a brief check and saw another brewery had renamed their RIS, but didn’t see many others.

I’m getting strong “victory cabbage”/“freedom fries” performative vibes from this kind of renaming.

2 Likes
2

Yes, Bright’s Stubborn Russian became just Stubborn or its label last year.

3

I am only surprised it took this long…

1 Like
4

As much as I dislike Russia (lots), the “Imperial” in Russian Imperial Stout is a reference to the Russian Empire, so it only obfuscates the original without changing it. Now if they were to call it a Double Stout…

1 Like
5

I would say the context is very different from freedom fries. Perhaps, the exact opposite of that.