Samuel Smiths Oatmeal Stout

Brewed by Samuel Smith
Style: Stout
Tadcaster, England

bottle: pitch black with no head. Arouma of chocolate, caramel and oats. Creamy mouthfeel. Chocolate, roast and prunes. Finishes dry and bitter.

12 oz. bottle, the third from a four-pack. Roasted, tart, woody, fruity smell. Very much an ale in the aroma. Scents of rich chocolate, cotton candy, and brown sugar. Pours a clear dark brown with an amber hue and a large amount of thick, uneven, taupe head. Produces good lacing. Roasted cofee dominates the taste at first, but sweet fruit comes to take over. Tart, lemony flavor. An unfortunate but weak hint of metal is present. Carob, cantalope, and yellow plum elements. Dry, bitter aftertaste. Light to medium body. Soft and smooth in the palate, as an oatmeal ale should be. The palate would score more strongly if it were not lighter than ideal. Samuel Smith’s Oatmeal Stout is an entertaining, likable, and thoroughly English brew.

Another bottle I picked up from Bacchanalia in Cambridge. This one pours black with rub tints and a big, tan head that sticks around a while. Coffee with chocolate and hints of hops as well as some dried fruit on the nose. A dark coffee malt flavor with a smooth follow through and hints of chocolate. Some hoppiness in the end with a lingering coffee taste, this beer becomes more complex as it warms...

Black with a foamy tan head. Stewed fruits, coffee and caramel nose. Has the usual luscious oat texture. Chocolate sweetness, with some roastiness and a finish that has just enough hops to avoid sickliness. I drank this with barely a chill on it and wished it were cooler. Half way down the bottle I fetched some Red Leicester to eat with it. That worked well, and I think the sweetness would have been too much for me without it. I really don’t understand how this is rated similarly to their Imperial Stout or to St Ambroise Oatmeal stout.

Pours a jet black with medium, foamy tan head. Lacing throughout. Aroma of sweet malts - toffee, coffee, dark caramel, chocolate.Smooth and silky on the tongue, very nice and well-balanced. Sweet? Yes but not overwhelming. Not too dry either - very nice beer but I agree with many others - this is not a session beer, but savoring a 550 ml bottle is very nice indeed!

One of my "first" favorite beers. Pours like a brown stout in color and is on the sweeter side like a sweet stout. There is a nice roast on the finish which is semi dry and slightly lactic. I haven’t had one in a while, but it is as nice as I remember.

Bottled. This was I think the first good beer I ever bought after finding Ratebeer and deciding I was going to start rating. It was also the last beer I drank before I began rating. And it has been 5 years and 2600 ratings before I have revisited it.

I remember thinking it was incredibly sweet at the time, and the flavor was very different to me. I see that sweetness now, but it is way more mellow than I perceived, with most of the character being chiefly lactic. There is a little bit of roast and grain in there, with a slightly carbonic, oaty note. I’m not sure how crazy I was about this at the time, and I know I’m not crazy about it now, although to me it is still one of the only truly sweet "sweet stouts" I’ve yet drank. Very few oatmeal stouts dare approach this level of sweetness that is not just a byproduct of underattenuation.

A terrific beer and a particularly interesting stout. I enjoyed the texture and flavours better when it was colder - as when it’s warming down the toasted notes and the coffee become a tad overwhelming.