Church Brew Blast Furnace Stout

Brewed by Church Brew Works
Style: Sweet Stout
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania USA

A beautifully bottled, toasted, oatmeal stout. Aroma of chocolate, coffee, cream, and toasted oats. Nice bitter coffee flavor, some chocolate, lightly hopped. Awesome mouthfeel. Special thanks to TAR and cb for this fine brew!

Pours from the growler an opaque dark brown. A vigorous pour gives it just a thin brown head that quickly disappears. Lacing? Zip. Smell is definitely a creamy coffee. Hints of bitter chocoalte. Roasty. Tiny bit of vanilla. A balanced taste, a balance of bitterness and sweetness int he malt. Almost like someone mixed a cream stout with an agressively bitter stout. Graininess in the mouth. Finish becomes a bit more bitter as you drink the pint. Mouth is medium and clean for a stout. Some lingering stickiness as you polish of the pint but mostly a bitter coffee aftertaste. Smooth. A great drinker. At under 5% ABV, a nice session brew. I wouldn’t have guessed this for an oatmeal stout. I love ’em but rarely are they this smooth. Check this one out if in Pittsburgh

Very good roasted oatmeal stout. Nice and roasted with a light drinkability and good balance. As expected this brew is much better when warmer.

nice stout, very smooth with a nice malty finish. a pleasing oatmeal stout

Sample at the brewpub. Pours pitch black with a wispy tan head and thin spotty lacing. Pleasant aroma of coffee and malt. Smooth and rich mouthfeel with toasted malt, coffee and chocolate flavors. The finish is bittersweet chocolate with a lingering touch of hops afterward. Solid all around.

Dark chestnut. Frothy, rocky khaki foam cakes the glass with thick lace. Bittersweet chocolate, leafy hop, black licorice aroma. Airy undertones coupled with cocoa, nougat, plums, and toasted oats. Fluffy carbonation. Fairly slick body. Starts with mild chocolate notes with a tangy plum edge and rich malt layers crossed with lush oats and caramel. Lush oaty silkiness adds to the rich leathery, chocolatey textures and thickens the body. Bits of salty licorice louden the earthiness. Finishes with notable twang, yet malty rich with everlasting notes of bittersweet chocolate, smoke, and espresso. Tangy, leafy hops fail at penetrating the richness long after the swallow. Beware, as this becomes extremely phenolic after only a few months in the bottle. It’s rock solid when found fresh, though.

Bottle: Nearly opaque with a creamy head and good lace. The aroma has notes of toasty, nutty, and smoky malts. Additionally a fruity (plum and apple) , floral, light pine and dusty yeast esters also greets the nose. The taste starts with a good roasted oat character balanced out by mild bitters. Fruity and earthy undertone. The feel is smooth and creamy. A wonderful brew with good complexity. Thanks Jeff for sharing the bottle.

On tap at the works....whew, had to take a step back before giving this a fair rating. Too many samples! Deep dark brown pour that yields a medium sized tan head....exits quickly. Really liked the aroma...choco-coffee edges, malty, vanilla...interesting. The flavor is pretty roasty, lightly bitter, creamy vanilla...more or less full bodied...surprisingly good. A great effort by some good brewers. We left the Church pretty impressed!