Boulder Beer Obovoid Oak-Aged Oatmeal Stout

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

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

Deep black with nice tan head that has good lacing and longevity. Aroma is slight of oak, roasted malt and slight alcohol. Flavor is toasted and roasted malt, a little biscuit. A little oak comes through as well. A decent impy stout but since it is suppose to be aged in oak, I would like more oak flavor.

This beer had a black body with brown head. It had a great chocolate taste flavor.

Tap at HDG. Black colour with a thick tan head. Fairly hoppy aroma. Resiny hops and roasty dark chocolate. Flavour is also quite hoppy. Thinnish body but with lots of roasted malt bitterness and plenty of dry-hopped character. Very herbal bitterness. An unusual beer, but it works pretty well.

I like a nice deep black beer. Now this one isn’t Ten FIDY black or anything. Slightly lighter shade of colorlessness than that. But still nice.

22 oz. bottle from Plaza Liquors - Pours a clear brown color with a one and a half finger thick light tan head. Light spotty lacing. Aroma is light oak, herbal hops, and roasted malt. Flavor is woody (oak), light chocolate, and roasted malt. The oak lingers on the palate. Medium body. This beer is missing the body and character that so many bigger stouts have. Still, a decent beer.

Bottle. Sweet coco roasted aroma. Bock body with tan head. Good sweet roast with some medium biteerness. Easy on the palate good beer.

great taste with a Dark pourwith a off white head, very deep Oak malty flavor.