Oskar Blues Ten FIDY

Brewed By: Oskar Blues Brewery in Longmont, Colorado

Purchased: 12oz CAN bought at Binny's in Naperville, IL; 2012

Style/ABV: Russian Imperial Stout, 10.5%
Reported IBUs: 98

I'm excited to crack open the Ten FIDY, because this is a crazy fucking beer. The fallible BJCP guidelines for the Russian Imperial Stout clock this style between 50-90 IBUs, but tonight's beer surpasses that upper limit. I'm getting ahead of myself, and want to briefly talk about Russian Imperial Stouts (RIS from here on out). 

The BJCP states that RIS were brewed to high gravity and hopping level in England so that they could be exported to the Baltic States and Russia. I'm unsure if this history is still firmly rooted in fact, as much of the history on exporting hoppy beers for preservation is up for debate. As Martyn Cornell (author of Beer) states:

Myth 3 “Porters and stouts were not suitable for the torrid Indian climate.”

More unresearched rubbish. Considerable amounts of porter – far more porter than IPA, probably – were exported to India, from at least the second half of the 18th century right through to the end of the 19th century. The East India Company actually used to ask brewers to tender for suppliers of porter to India.

The history is up in the air...and it will be interesting to see what the "official" story ends being in terms of the preservation of export beers. Nevertheless, the history of the RIS begins towards the end of the 18th century, when British brewers began exporting porters and stouts to the Baltic regions. These beers were brewed stronger to survive the long journey (or so it is told, as we just discussed). What seems to be more clear is that this stronger style of Stout originated in London around 1781, when Barclay Perkins began exporting its Stout to the Baltic region. The rest is pretty much history, and the style gained a lot of popularity. American brewers have revived the style, and continue to push the envelope with it. Like tonight's beer!

Oskar Blues has a few claims to fame, like being the first American craft brewery to put their beer into cans. The brewery was founded in 1997, by Dick Dale Katechis, as Oskar Blues Restaurant. In 1998, Oksar Blues began brewing beer in the basement of their restaurant. In 2002 Oskar Blues becomes the first American craft brewery to can a beer, with their Dale's Pale Ale. During 2008, the brewery moved from its original Lyons location to a new, 35,000-square-foot facility in Longmont, CO, turning the Lyons location back into a brew pub. And in 2012, the brewery expanded its capacity to over 100,000 bbls. The brewery continues to celebrate success, and has been turning out some awesome beer...in a can. Their website is pretty kick-ass, so check it out HERE for more information about the brewery and their history.

Tonight's beer, the "Ten FIDY," was first brewed at Oskar Blues Grill & Brew in Lyons, CO during 2006. According to Oskar Blues' website, this is a titanic, immensely vicious stout that is loaded with big flavors of chocolate-covered caramel and coffee that hide the 98 IBUs under some big malts. This beer is brewed with an enormous amount of two-row malt, chocolate malt, roasted barley, flaked oats, and hops. This is a huge fucking beer, and I'm excited to get it into a glass.  

Oskar Blues Ten FIDY

This is just an evil looking beer. It pours pitch black, with 3-fingers worth of dark, coffee-brown, head. The head on this beer really has that coffee darkness, and it was actually bubbling a bit like a cauldron after pouring the beer. As the head pulls away, you see some lacing, and there are some alcohol legs on this. This beer doesn't lie. It looks about the same in low light as it does bright light.

This beer was canned on 9-24-12, and says, "Haulin' Oats!" That means this beer is fresh...and hopped up. You get a lot of roast, dark chocolate/baker's chocolate, and coffee on the nose of this beer. I'm getting some of that burnt sugar, molasses, and burnt marshmallow aroma. The aroma is very sweet, and has a dense stickiness about it...you maybe get some vague, ghosty hop profiles on the aroma, but they are not distinctive. You get some hints of dark fruit playing off the sweetness.

The taste....holy shit. This is a giant beer. You get blasted with a huge wall of flavor up front, and then this thing just camps huge roast, chocolate, and coffee notes on the mid to back palate for a really long duration. On the back, back palate, you get some hops flairing up, and some hop bitterness/profiles along with more malt. Epic stuff. Up front you get some grain, coffee, some hoppiness, dark fruits (cherries, figs, raisins), chocolate, earthy dirt, smoke, and campfire. This thing is huge and chewy, but creamy and smooth at the same time...the finish is just a wallop of giant chocolate, coffee, and malt.

I just belched up some hops. You would be hard-pressed to peg this beer at 98 IBUs, but the hops do manifest as hints of zesty citrus, and you get some nice bitterness up front and in the back palate. This is oily, thick, and chewy at times...but it also has a smoothness and creaminess about it. Palate depth is superb, with each sip lasting anywhere from 10-30 seconds. Mouthfeel is full. This thing really wallops your palate, and I can feel it on my lips now, as they are starting to tingle. This is also remarkably complex....let me tell you, the further into this glass, the more I start to get the hops. The hops really build in this beer with each sip. My guess is if you age this beer, the hops will drop out leaving a fat malt build. Up front are some hops, citrus, dark fruits, coffee, earthy malts; the middle rolls into more bitterness, and the malts take over; the back end is big malts (coffee, chocolate, roast), but the hops start to build with this one. The finish is sticky and dry.

Rating: Divine Brew

I'm feeling a very confident Decent Divine Brew with this. I took a break for a few minutes, and went back in for a sip...and got blasted with malts again. I'm also picking up some marshmallow and campfire on the back end now. This is remarkably complex, and has such an impressive feeling on your palate...mmm! I'm feeling some alcohol in my tummy, and this beer is definitely boozy. But it's still fairly drinkable...you could sip this, or pair it with a meal and drink it a bit more liberally. As far as food pairings go, I'd pair this with a chocolate dessert, a dry chocolate cake, a raunchy burger with onion rings, or even a steak. This is just a fantastic beer, and makes me excited to try more of Oskar Blues' stuff.

Random Thought: If Coors is colder than Ice Cube, than this shit is way more boss than 50 Cent.