Grays Oatmeal Stout

Pours a dark black color with a tan head that faded down fast. Aroma has a very robust roasted and burnt note, chocolate, and a light coffee presence. Flavor combines a dark roasted malt note early with a very smooth chocolate flavor to sweeten up the beer, a mild coffee bitter bite and finishes with a sweeter dark fruit note. Moderate body, creamy texture and low carbonation rounds out the beer. Overall a very good brew with a great roasted note and sweet chocolate to compliment this.

Bottle from Beer Geek. Pours very dark with a light three finger tan head. Aroma of chocolate underlaid by some burnt malt. Medium body with mild carbonation. Flavor is really burnt malt with some mild chocolate. A touch of ash. Works for me.

Pours clear, dark brown with a mahogany tint when held to the light and a 1 finger, fizzy, tan head that fades to a skim and ring pretty quickly and is gone soon after that. At that point this stuff looks exactly like cola. Aroma is light roast, oats, toasty chocolate and some woody (maple?) notes. Flavor is sweet and roasty malts up front, a little burnt toffee, toasted oats and light chocolate syrup (like in coffee shops, not Hershey’s). Light cardboard and metallic notes come in for the finish with some ashy roast and fried banana, strange stuff. Palate is very thin and slightly dry with an active and very prickley carbonation, not great for a stout. I didn’t really enjoy this stuff too much, not really terrible, just doesn’t really appeal to me too much.

12oz bottle. Red-brown black color. Minimal beige head. Dry, oaty stout aroma. Smooth, medium bodied. Pleasant chocolate edge to it. Dry and crisp, almost sandily bitter. OK.

Pours a dark brown with a thin, tan head. Smells of light chocolate and vanilla with some malt. Very light body for a stout. Tastes of roasty malts, some oats, chocolate, and wood. Not a great stout.

Thin body is nothing like a stout! Tasted like a good oatmeal stout---that was cut 50% with tap water. This is my second, and last Gray’s brew. They are not in the same universe with MI craft ales.

Full of fizzy, noisome carbonation, much like a soda pop. In fact, it smells almost like a cola if you will it. But mostly it smells like chocolate and vanilla. My favorite thing about stouts is dipping my nose in them to get that roasted grain goodness to pervade my nostrils. Some hop phenols, harsh tannins, tree bark, grass, and, of course, coffee are all detectable. Caramel is a big player in this beer and that turns me off; I don’t like sweet stouts. It otherwise has a good mouthfeel: thin and sluggable. Overall, not an impressive beer.

Plenty of roast flavor; slightly sour finish. It’s drinkable, but fairly unremarkable for the style.