Writer: John Rathmell

An exclusive byo.com web bonus recipe John Rathmell took first place in the Spice, Herb, or Vegetable Beer category with Devil’s Tongue Imperial Stout at the 2014 Big Beers, Belgians and Barleywines Festival in Vail, Colorado. John has brewed over 500 batches of beer and operates a small hops farm near Ann Arbor, Michigan. John describes his beer this way. “This is a Russian imperial stout with habanero peppers added. It is based on an imperial stout recipe that I’ve been successfully brewing for nearly 15 years. It’s rich, thick, and sweet, as any good imperial stout should be, with a lot of bittering hops to help balance it out”.