Manchester Conspiracy Theory Oatmeal Stout

Brewed by Manchester Brewing
Style: Stout
Concord, New Hampshire USA

Pours a two finger light tan head that fades quickly to a thin layer, leaving some lace. Black color no highlights. Light-medium carbonation and medium bodied. Roasted chocolate nose. Flavor is almost sweet roasted chocolate. Very slight bitter finish. $4.49 for a 22oz bottle from Northend Superette Manchester, NH.

Deep black pour with a thick sticky tan head. The nose is quite cocoaish. Chocolate and soft roastiness over a bit of toasted malt. A bit of sweet light herbal hoppiness over the lightly bitter roastiness. Fairly rich and cocoaish through the middle. It’s got a nice balance.

22oz bomber bottle from Charles Street Liquors, Boston MA, 8 November 2009. Almost opaque black. Just a tinge of red at the edges. Thin brown head. Typical oatmeal stout creamy chocolate aroma with some roast malt. Dry on the palate and markedly bitter. More rasping burnt malt, dark chocolate and powdery cocoa. Hints of bitter Arabica coffee too. Bitterness lingers tending towards astringence. Middling body. By no means easygoing but nicely drinkable. Just a little too fizzy on the tongue for me. All round , pretty good stuff.

22 oz. bottle purchased at a local convienence store for $2.99. Pours black with ruby edges with a 1/2" brown head. Aroma is dark chocolate, malt and mild coffee. Moderate to heavy body and smooth sipping. Flavor is astringent and ashy and first then mellows out to a nice chocolate/malt/oatmeal taste. Some flavor of dark fruit in the background. Long sweet chocolate finish.

22oz bomber courtesy of MrRetardedMonkey poured into a tulip. Pours almost completely black in the glass with hardly any light showing through the edges. There’s a big creamy tan head that recedes fairly quickly and leaves spotty lacing and a small cap. The aroma is excellent with lots of toasted oats and dark chocolate. There are hints of coffee in the nose as well. The taste is slightly more bitter with some semi-sweet bakers chocolate and plenty of roasted grains. There is a bit of coffee and some sugary sweetness in the background. The mouthfeel is slick with soft carbonation and seems to get sweeter and sweeter after each sip. The oats certainly add some smoothness to the feel. This is a very solid beer from Manchester and I’m actually looking forward to trying some other things from them.

22oz bomber purchased at McKinnon’s in Salem, NH. Pours a dark brown almost opaque body with virtually no head to speak of. Smells strongly of dark chocolate, coffee, with a fair bit of oats and a slight alcoholic bite. Dark chocolate and coffee immediately come to mind in the taste, with a slight earthy oatiness in the background adding a slightly nutty quality as well. Somewhat sweet but not overly so, fairly balanced and somewhat subdued. Medium body with some slickness, no doubt on account of the oatmeal, and low to moderate carbonation. A bit of a sipper, but not as much as some oatmeal stouts, and one sip definitely invites another with this one. Not a bad brew. Didn’t blow me away, but a solid example of the style IMO, and it’s good to see good beer like this being made relatively locally.

Cold 22oz bottle: Pours the darkest of browns with some ruby highlights and a thin mocha head. Aroma is of chocolate, dark fruits (plum?), rich malts and notes of brown sugar. Taste is of rich malts and chocolate well blended with subtle, grassy hops. Medium to heavy bodied and smooth with low carbonation. Ending is lightly bitter with distinct plumb and notes of chocolate and brown sugar.