Mackinaw Brewing Harvest Moon Oatmeal Stout

Brewed by Mackinaw Brewing Company
Style: Sweet Stout
Traverse City, Michigan USA

Poured black, slight tan head. Roasty oats in the nose. Oily, slightly chewy, coffee and slight mocha. It was pretty bitter for a stout, much less a sweet stout. Really not bad, just not great.

I thought this was a really solid beer. Lots of flavor. Smooth, roasty, bitter. Only problem was the hops were out of balance, too strong. Perhaps it was too cold. Nice!

On tap at the brewpub. Pours a dark black, somewhat transparent color, with edges of copper and a finger of creamy off-white head. Aroma of lightly roasted coffee and toasted walnuts. Light bodied, creamy mouthfeel. Simple, but devoid of other off-flavors clearly present in the other brews I tried from this brewer. Starts out with a hint of caramel sweetness and toasted nuts, transitions to a thin bread toast-like mid-palate flavor, and finishes dry and pleasantly roasty. I’m not really getting that oily, slick oatmeal palate or flavor, but it’s satisfying nonetheless.

Draft sample at Mackinaw. Poured brown color with moderate off-white head that diminished quickly with fair lacing. Moderate nutty roasted malt aroma. Medium body with a smooth thin texture. Medium sweet nutty flavor with a medium sweet smooth finish of short duration.

This is far and away the best Mackinaw brew, exploding with complexity after the simplemided, single action whimpers of the rest of their beers. This is not to say that they stuff is rich in comparison to, say, a Bell’s stout, but it is an oasis in the Mackinaw desert, with its solid roasts and spicy edges.