Anderson Valley Barney Flats Oatmeal Stout

Brewed by Anderson Valley Brewing Company
Style: Stout
Boonville, California USA

A good, if not light stout. This is a beer for winter. This beer makes you want to replace chestnuts with malt roasting on an open fire. Has the richness of a stout without the lingering aftertaste.

Chocolately and light roasted malt aroma. Very dark in appearance with a solid brown head. Smooth palate--but not very full. Evenly balanced flavors with a good dose of roasted malt.

Not a bad stout. Pours black with malty aroma. Flavor is sweet malt with coffee tones, finish is more bitter than some other oatmeal stouts, but still a very enjoyable brew.

Seemed like a pretty standard stout. Somewhat of a piney aroma. Poured a thick black with a dark head. Nice chocolate malt flavoring balanced with a bitter dryness. Overall, it was above average, but not great.

Delicious appearance. It is dark and creamy appearing with a late forming small dark tan head. The aroma is sweet malt and roastiness which is what you would expect out of a stout. Body is middle of the road for the style. Flavor is robust and is sweet malt with some coffee. Didn’t taste any chocolate here. There is some late bitterness and a nice zestiness in the mouth throughout. This was a great drinking beer.

Bottle: Pours a nice dark (black) color with a medium tan head that diminshed rather quickly. Smell is a nice sweet and smooth smell. I note a bit of chocolate and a touch of coffee in here. It almost smells like there may be a tad bit of honey in there as well. Taste has a nice soft coffee feel to it, with a touch of chocolate. It has a very nice smooth texture to it. This is not overwhelming, but seems to be lacking just a bit in flavor, but very good none the less.

12 oz bottle shared with StompBrockmore - pours black with a frothy brown head. Good. Lots of oats right away in the nose, plus that smoky roasted barley and dark chocolate malts. Some hints of espresso in there too. The taste is much the same, but ultra smooth and SWEEEET, MAN. Really drinkable for a stout, almost could be a session if the well-hidden alcohol didn’t knock you on yer ass after a few. And then it slips down your throat and that’s all she wrote - short and sweet. Literally.

12oz bottle, shared with VeloVampire - pours very dark with a dark mocha coffee head, a bit like the crema on a good cup of espresso as it diminishes. It looks good. Aroma is a huge blast of smoky roasted oats and malt. The flavour is very sweet - this is probably the sweetest stout I’ve ever had. Very, very smooth and sessionable. Goes down shockingly easy and for the style I found this surprising. More oatmeal and coffee in the flavour with a very short and sweet finish. I like a long powerful finish in a stout and this one was really lacking that regard. Decent, not exceptional.