Dominion Oak Barrel Stout

Brewed by Coastal Brewing Company
Style: Stout
Annapolis, Maryland USA

Off-brown head color. The beer seems to be somewhat of a thick palate. The head lasts a long time. The beer has a nice black color to it. Very black! The head doesn’t have that deep dark chocolate head that I look for in a stout. Looks decent, and in no way am I saying that this beer looks bad. This beer is quite different from a lot of stouts in regard to its aroma. The smell of vanilla is definitely there! I was surprised by this. Sometimes when brewers make the point of saying that a certain flavor or aroma is in the beer I usually can’t smell or taste a damn thing. With this, I definitely smell the vanilla. I get that oak roast or ash smell. I won’t say that I smell any heavy chocolate. I do smell a slight coffee aroma. This beer has a decent aroma, not quite pungent, but not faint either. Flavor has a nice roast taste to it. I think the oak aging helped this beer a lot in that regard. Slight vanilla taste. The vanilla is more present in the aroma than in the flavor. The coffee flavor comes out as well. I taste the ash flavor mostly, which is what I prefer in a stout. I like the bitter coffee flavor. The chocolate flavor is not in this beer. I don’t mind stouts not having chocolate flavors, so that doesn’t bother me. The beer is not as creamy as it should be. The beer didn’t look thick as I was pouring it, only semi thick, so I am not surprised by this. Overall, a decent stout with an aroma that has many different elements to it. The flavor of the beer is a bit week, and the beer is a bit too thin. A decent stout, but nothing that I would buy again. It is not bad just not something you need to run out and buy! Try it once and you will be satisfied!

Interesting bottle of beer. Dark brown pour, with a fluffy tan head. Aroma hits you with chocolate, coffee and lots of vanilla. Flavor is pretty nice...vanilla is evident, wood notes and some chocolate. But the beer lacks body. It is way too thin...too bad this could have been a real start.

One of the first beers I drank regularly when I got into craft beers. Pours a very dark brown in color with a nice inch of foamy head sitting atop. Smell is very roasty. Plenty of coffee and vanilla from the oak barrel in the flavor. Very creamy and smooth on the palate. A very easy, good drinking beer. It’s a shame what’s going on with the brewery, but this will always be a good beer in my memories.

Brewed in the USA !!! (KSBF) Pours a dark brown color with a sm-tan head. There is a sweet vanilla bean aroma with a roasted malt taste. This was pretty good overall, would like to try again.

(On tap at Ram’s Head Tavern in Baltimore Airport on October 20, 2008) Very dark... solid, steady light brown head. No carbonation. This even smells heavy. Smoked, obviously, but light on the nose. Takes a few minutes for the head to drown. Tast is out of this world... really great. But also a bit too sweet, perhaps it’s the vanilla. There’s something to the smoke that’s different than most smoked stouts. Lighter gravity/body than I expected. If it wasn’t for the oak flavor I’d forget this was a stout. Easy going down, but too bittersweet on the finish. Overall, the best beer I’ve had today. I’d hunt this down again if it was available closer to home.

Thin brown beer, dark enough, sweet vanilla notes from the wood, not enough malt. Drinkable, but not very interesting.

Bottle. Bourbon wasn’t terribly apparent on the nose or palate, which I suppose makes sense if it’s not actually aged there, but a nice sweet stout nonetheless.

Poured a nice deep brown with a tan head. Aroma is malty and nutty with a good hint of roast in there. May be a bit of biscuit hiding in the back. Flavor is very smooth. Some more nutty roast in the palate with almost no bitterness. This is a real easy drinking beer and a nice stout. Enjoyed this one quite a bit.