Wells & Youngs Imperial Stout

There’s been surprisingly little reaction to the news that Wells & Youngs have revived Courage Russian Stout, with the release happening at the Great American Beer Festival in Denver last week.

Since W&Y salvaged the Courage brands from the rotting carcass of Scottish & Newcastle I have been wondering whether the rights to Russian Stout were included and whether they had any plans to brew any. The stout was formerly aged in the bottle for a year previous to release, so it was quite a surprise to suddenly read that the beer was ready for sale without any indication in advance that they were even brewing it.

I don’t really need to explain what a legendary beer this is, do I? Barclay Perkins brewed it for two hundred years, unfathomable in our age. I had a bottle of what must have been the last brewing while I was a student, shortly after I got interested in beer. It was very nice indeed. Then S&N discontinued it, the bloody idiots. Beer lovers everywhere will surely be keen to try the new edition.

But seriously Wells & Youngs, WHAT IS THIS BULL CRAP ABOUT NOT SELLING IT IN THE UK UNTIL NEXT YEAR?! Get it sorted! I want to be drinking this at Christmas!

Might just have to brew my own.

I don’t begrudge the Americans having the reputation for the finest imperial stouts nowadays, but I have always found it very weird that so little was brewed in the country where it was invented.

Postscript: As I was writing this I heard that Wells & Youngs have also bought the legacy Wm Younger and McEwan brands from Heineken. Heineken (and Scottish & Newcastle before them) never had much of an idea what to do with these brands, as they got in the way of selling Fosters and Kronenbourg. Perhaps Wells & Youngs will show more imagination. McEwan’s also once brewed imperial stout …