The idea for our 2020 Christmas Beer came as we were bottling last year’s Coquito Porter. After celebrating the Puerto Rican heritage of Phil’s wife Mindy with the 2019 bottle we decided that a Russian Imperial Stout to celebrate Jake’s family heritage would be appropriate.
Unlike Papa Noel, there is no traditional St. Nick character in Russian culture. When the Soviets banished religious holidays and festivals the celebration of the new year became the greatest celebration of the year. And for the centerpiece of that celebration they adopted the character of Ded Moroz (pronounced “DZED more-OSS”), or Father Frost as it is translated. It was decided that he would be the namesake of our 2020 brew.
With a new brewing system installed for 2020 we wanted to do a test batch of the beer to see if we wanted to tweak anything for the holiday release, so on Mother’s Day we got together for some socially distanced brewing and made a batch of “Mutha Russia” in honor of the day. We couldn’t have been happier with how it came out and got raves from those who tasted it, so we set about making a double batch for bottling (you can find the brew story here).
We hope you love this beer as much as we do. It’s been a long, difficult year. At 9.7% ABV hopefully Ded Moroz will guide us to a happy and health 2021, and maybe help us forget parts of 2020.