Boulder Beer Obovoid Oak-Aged Oatmeal Stout

Brewed by Boulder Beer Company
Style: Stout
Boulder, Colorado USA

(22oz bottle) Very dark brown topped by persistent and slightly rocky tan head that leaves nice lacing. Aroma is moderately sweet, coffee/roast, fudge/milk chocolate, confectionery sugar. Taste is roast/coffee, some nut/salty, cocoa/chocolate, earthy, light wood. Some earthiness, but most of the bitterness is from the coffee maltiness. Smooth medium body, no sign of alcohol.

rich easy drinking empirical stout ale. aged with oak, soft bitter coffey hue with soft woodzy flavor in the body. very satisfying

Pours a black color with a brown head. Aroma is slightly on the sweeter side with molasses, chocolate, and some dark fruits. Roasted malts, oak and coffee are also present. Flavor is stronger then I thought it would be from the aroma. Strong flavors of roasted malts, coffee, oak, chcolate, and molasses dominate at first. The finish is kind of light and doesn’t linger for too long.

Pours dark, but dark ruby shows when held to light. Light tan head off a very firm pour. Nose is mild. Flavor is equally mild. This is an RIS? Just lacks the punch, man. I mean it still has a nice edge, but nowhere near the complexity that many others of the style have. Feel is much thinner on the liquid than normal. Carbonation is okay. Verdict is that this is nice and even, but it is just lacking.

Bomber. Beer is clear, very dark brown. Head is moderately sized, off-white, frothy; quickly and mostly diminishing, ultimately lasting.<P>Malty with a moderate note of heavily roasted grain (tipping toward rubbery/burned); Hoppy with moderate/heavy note of resin, lighter note of grapefruit zest; Yeasty with a light doughy note; Light note of vanilla cola.<P>The flavor is moderately sweet, moderately bitter, trace/light acidic with a long, light/moderately sweet, lightly bitter/dry, trace acidic finish.<P>The body is medium/full, the texture is watery/velvety and the carbonation is lively.<P>Fair but forgettable.

not an imperial stout? 22 oz bottle pours near-black with a head that’s slightly darker than "cream" color. roasted aroma, and fairly green - some oaky aromas but they’re certainly behind the black and burnt elements. medium-bodied (especially considering the label and name would suggest that it’s an imperial stout); roast barley and oak flavors dominate and there are only traces of hops and vanilla. there are far better stouts to be had, especially for the price, although it’s not bad. my next one had better be free or on clearance if there are other stouts available.

Poured pitch black with a tan head. Aroma was primarily malt and hops. Taste was domintaed by hoppy bitterness with notes of malt, caramel, baking chocolate and a hint of bourbon.

The beer is pretty well carbonated as it pours with an almost four-finger thick, brown tinged, tan colored head. The beer is opaque and quite black in color, but does show flashes of clear red ruby hues if held up to the light. The aroma is initially a mix of roasted nutty, dark chocolate and burnt berry notes, but then the oak character starts to be noticed. The oak provides a spicy, woody backdrop that adds a bit of sharpness, but it also provides subtle notes of butterscotch and vanillin with accentuate both the berry notes and the chocolate character. The aroma is actually quite nice; it has really struck a solid balance between notes of chocolate, sweet fruit, vanilla laden oak, roast grain and a light spicy oak component. As long as you focus on the aroma in short bursts it is quite complex, though if you linger for too long it becomes dominated by toasted and burnt grain notes.

Quite light for something that alludes to an Imperial Stout on its label, but well within what I expected from a beer of this strength. This has a light sweetness up front that accentuates notes of chocolate, some light vanilla flavors. The beer finishes with a hint of butterscotch, some vanillin derived flavors and a woody kick of oak spice that all mix with a dry, toasted grain / burnt malt character that, along with the hop character, provides a lingering bitterness to this brew. The sharp, roast derived acidity and prickly carbonation keep this beer from being creamy like one would expect from an oatmeal stout, but it does have hints of that character at times. The finish also has a bit of a chalky, dark grain husk character to it at times. Running throughout the flavor profile is a soft mix of vanilla and berry notes that can be pretty interesting at times.

I like that this is quite easy drinking, the oak character is not overly dominant for this "lighter" beer, though it can be a little harsh in the finish at times. This would be much better balanced to my taste if the roast grain had been dialed back just a bit; the oak might be ok at this level then as it could be balanced by creamier oak influence and slightly sweeter malt character. As is, the beer is a little too thin to stand up to both the ample roast grain character and the oak at the same time; it is still tasty and drinkable and the aroma is really quite nice, but it can be a bit too harsh at times. I wonder if a year of age could round this out a bit more.

Purchased: <a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/Places/ShowPlace.asp? Liquors, Tucson AZ