 ClarkVV (3547), Allston, Massachusetts, USA
Oct 8, 2003 Updated: Jun 14, 2005
2002 bottle sampled 10/7/2003. Pours a deep black with some tinges of chestnut brown. Medium-sized burnt beige head and lots of sediment. Smells quite roasty, with alcohol and some sweet malt flavor apparent. Lots of lacing.
Begins quite dry, medium bitter and acidic. Lots of roasted malt right away. Only after warming does the beer even out and a sweeter more expected flavor comes out. Lots of peppery hops and a bakers chocolate flavor as well. Finish is more smooth with some mildly sweet toffe coming out and a medium coffee roast flavor. Quite unique as far as many other oatmeals. Definitely a lot drier, but still a great flavor. Medium to full body. The finish is great, creamy yet not very sweet, creating a very true, roasty stout-like flavor that is not harsh.
’02 in 2004 After giving this one another year to age, it has proved to be close to perfect. Lightly sweet, with some sticky chocolate malt, low carbonation, vanilla beans, light caramel flavors and finishing with a perfectly genuine coffee flavor. Perfect palate, great aroma (prunes, chocolate, lots of medium roast coffee).
’02 in 2005. . . and this beer just continues to wow me. I really feel like you have to have had the beer young to appreciate how well it has aged. Silky, oily, vinous, tons of oats and chocolate with subdued black malt character and of course, a perfect mouthfeel. Earthy roasted barley lingers on the aftertaste, with prunes, grapes and raisins. Superb.
DrHomolka (601), Columbus, Ohio, USA
Mar 8, 2008 On tap. Pours dark brown/black with a small tan head. Nice aroma on this. Smooth, roasty, milk chocolate, oats, and a lot of coffee. Taste is the same, creamy, smooth and slick with a nice balance of all the flavors and nice full mouthfeel. This reminds me a lot of the Kalamazoo Stout. This was excellent.
bdigi66 (456), Ft Wayne, Indiana, USA
Feb 10, 2008 Draft: Poured at the Eccentric Cafe, this was a dark mahogany with a medium sized white/cream head. Notes of brown sugar, chocolate malt and some mild coffee hints come through in the nose along with a bit of oat. Medium-bodied mouth feel leads to a dry, chocolate based flavor with some notes of vanilla and oat. Good stuff.
General_Gao (2573), Iowa City, Iowa, USA
Jan 29, 2008 12 oz bottle shared by iowaherkeye. Thanks Joey. Poured an opaque black color. Head was light brown. Big malty aroma with lots of molasses accented by vanilla, chocolate, anise, and raisin. Assertively roasty up front and relatively sweet. Full bodied with chocolate, coffee, and raisin flavors. Another great stout by Bells.
Driftwood6 (209), USA
Jan 13, 2008 On tap at Eccentric Cafe. Notable in its very smooth mouth feel with no bitter after taste. Not too roasty for a stout, which helps maintain that smooth body. Surprised to see it’s retired?-- since I just had it on tap.
Stine (1354), St. Paul, Minnesota, USA
Dec 13, 2007 On tap at the Eccentric Cafe. Deep chocolate brown, silky in body with ruby edges. Aroma of honey grahams, rich chocolate mousse, some burnt caramel and vegetal tones from full roasted coffee notes. Smooth and deliciously creamy; a dense doughy core of cinnamon bread, vanilla, and brown sugar. Lots of maple granolas, chocolate milkshake and heavily creamed coffee. Robust and delicate at the same time. Medium bodied, bold, and rich, while still understated and suffering not the slightest wink of black malt astringency that so commonly afflicts the oatmeal stout. Black licorice in a flourish of new sweetness in the finish. Without exception the best of its class.
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