Tap. Light roast aroma. Very dark brown, brown head. Nutty a hint roast, light leaves. Doesn’t have much happening. Good chewyness.

on hand pump-pours a tan head and black color with red tint. Aroma is dark malt. Taste is sweet dark malt-molasses/faint coffee, roasty, faint hops. Mild carbonation.

Original Rating (6-1-5-2-10=2.4): Roast, chocolate and biscuity malts along with some floral hops and a lactic, berry-like note in the aroma. Some suggestions of sulfur. Opaque darkest brown body with lighter brown highlights topped by a tan head that is quickly and fully diminishing. Pleasant bitterness and some grassy hops along with roast, sulfur, mild chocolate and the dreaded butterscotch in the mouth. Light medium body is somewhat watery which is reinforced by the low carbonation. Sampled at the Dix Winter Beer Festival 2006/2007. Rerate (5-1-5-2-9=2.2): Chocolate and leather are uneasy partners in the nose. Opaque brown body is topped by a low, tan, large bubbled head that recedes to a slight ring. Bitterness is quite apparent with plenty of chocolate cocoa. Dark malt character verges on sour raisins. Medium body with very low carbonation. Sampled on cask at Dix (Caskival 2007).

Poured a dark reddish-black with a ring instead of a head. Very faint aroma of chocolate & cocoa. Intense rosted malt and cocoa flavour! Fantastic aftertaste, good bittering hops. Molasses, slightly wort-ish (imagine drinking from the boil, homebrewers). Thin astringent mouthfeel. Great stout, but it needs a bit more polish.

2008 Re-rate Really strong smoked aroma and taste this time around. More a rauchbier than a stout. Soy, nuttiness, very bold. Otherwise, unchanged.

(Draught) Listed as Oatmeal Stout in the Restaurant menu but the sampled received was an Imperial Stout. Not opaque, perhaps reddish brown. Little oiliness. Light and watery in both flavour and viscosity. Luckily this is the only brewpub in Nanaimo because I think they would have a tough time exporting this beer under the "Imperial" banner... especially with a Fat Cat in town.