Barley Island Brass Knuckles Oatmeal Stout

Brewed by Barley Island Brewing
Style: Sweet Stout
Noblesville, Indiana USA

Pours inky black with rich but minimal tan head, low carbonation. Smells of cinnamon, hint of molasses, roasted coffee, cereal grains. Viscous and chewy on the tongue, though low in carbonation. Rich roasted chocolate up front, very syrupy with hints of hop presence on the back end. Not too much different than most oatmeal stouts I’ve tried, only richer. Overall balance is exceptional. Some may find the rich sweetness to be overbearing over the course of one or two pints, but not this guy. Leaves a stickiness on the lips and palate, so it may be ruinous to the effect of follow up brews, but it’s reasonable enough to make a fine nursing beer over the course of an evening.

From a sampler: This is a beer that I wish I had brought home in a growler. It is also one available in bottles. Pours almost black with a thick tan head an good lacing. The aroma is a pleasant blend of roasted coffee, malt, and chocolate. Very rich and satisfying with a strong cocoa/coffee flavor. Malt, caramel and hops are all in there for good measure too. The finish is long and roasty. This is easily the best beer from the brewpub as far as I am concerned.

12 oz bottle. Poured a dark brown with a thin tan head. The nose was very malty. The flavor was fairly smooth with hints of chocolate malts, a bit of oat, and a little coffee. Fairly priced around $2 a bottle.

Bottle. Pours a dark mahogany with a thin caramel color head which quickly disapates. Powerful aroma of sweet roasty malt. Creamy texture that lasts. Big time flavors with chocolate, vanilla, coffee all nicely balanced. Thanks Em!

This bottled brew poured a small head of fine to large sized brown colored mostly lasting bubbles that left behind a good lacing. The head was notably weird in that it had large sized bubbles on the left side of my mug and finely sized bubbles on the right hand side! The body was opaque with no visible carbonation and light black in color. The aroma was very nice with malt molasses and brown beer notes and a mildly vinous coffee scent. The mouth feel was initially very thick with malty and mild coffee notes and a lingering mild coffee malt bite in the finish. The flavor was thick with malt and coffee notes.

a very very good oatmeal stout. IMO this rivals Goose ISland’s and that’s my current fave. this is full bodied and nutty. the aroma is walnut, almond, and chestnut with toasted marshmello with a LOT of roasted malt that gives this beer the feel that it itself was roasted on a barbeque. interesting. flavor is LOTS of nutty flavors with some marshmellow and graham cracker (Its a smore!!) with lots of milk chocolate and a little light roast coffee.

I’m trying to get into stouts. Only problem is, I hate coffee. I tried this. Someone told me to break into stouts via an oatmeal, not a dry stout. So far, so good. I like it! Pours perfect black, with 2 finger creamy head. Smells of toffee, chocolate, and wonderful roasted malt. Nice. Tastes of toffee, chocolate, deep roasted malt & to my surprise, not much a coffee note. It’s there, but blocked by the sweetness. I found my favorite oatmeal stout as of now, downed 2 bottles of it, and really enjoyed every drop. Nicely done guys!

Strong Coffee and Malt - I really like this flavor - very similar to the Bourbon Barrel Aged Oatmeal - (I will have to try the two at the same time to compare) I think I liked the flavor of the Bourbon Aged better. This is a good brew