Mendocino Winter Ale (06/07 - Oatmeal Stout)

Formerly brewed at Olde Saratoga Brewing (Mendocino Brewing Co.)
Style: Sweet Stout
Saratoga Springs, New York USA

Bottle. Poured a thick deep black with a gorgeous creamy, brown head. The aroma found lots of roastiness with coffee and chocolate. The flavor was roasty, coffee, and caramel. Medium to full body. Another Winter Ale hit from Mendocino!

Aroma is oatmeal, chocolate, grapefruit. Flavor is very much the same, Palate is sort of flat though, thick, but something is missing.

I’d sampled this beer before, but it wasn’t until now I had my own bottle to try, and it is very good. This beer poured an opaque color with perhaps an over-abundance of tan head. I know how to pour a beer from a bottle with a decent head on it, yet this head leaked over the rim of the glass and onto the counter, despite my well-practiced methods. Smell is actually...oat-y. Which I don’t believe I’ve encountered in other oatmeal tastes. Taste is very good. It is coffee-ish, full-bodied, and extremely flavorful. The oat character also keeps this beer an extremely full mouthfeel. And its fullness does not cost this beer its drinkability. Quite good.

Pours black with a thick brown head. Bitter-sweet roasty chocolate and coffee aromas. Flavor reminds me of burnt black coffee, semi-sweet bakers chocolate, and some light bitterness in the finish. Palate is medium but a bit thinner than expected from the syrupy looking pour. Finish is also a bit shorter than expected. Not bad at all, but not my favorite sweet stout.

12 oz bottle. Pours a very dark black colored body, a little bit of light passing thru the edges. Foamy one finger dark brown head that left thick lacing. Aroma is very chocolaty with a nice burnt and roasted malt accent. Alot of roasted coffee and some chalky dryness as well. Flavor is very dry and roasty with lots of coffee and chalkiness. A little bit of hoppiness on the finish. Mouthfeel is medium to full bodied with a nice slightly oily texture and lighter, fairly soft, carbonation. This is a really good beer, quite a surprise and a really good value. A little better than the Porter from 04-05, and I really liked that one.

Opaque oily black with a big brown head. Aroma is roasty and sweet with a hint of wet dog. Taste is very coffee, but not too bitter and not too sweet. Not my favorite category of product, but not bad nonetheless. $2.50/12oz

Thanks to hopdog for sharing this 12 oz bottle. Pours a deep brown bordering on black with a medium tan foamy head that left some lacing and sustained. Aroma of choclate, oatmeal, roasted malts, caramel and toffee. Flavor of coffee, chocolate, almost coffee ice cream with a nice malty sweetness/roastiness.

12oz bottle acquired in trade with goldtwins (thanks!). Poured a dark black with brown edges and a large sized tan head. Aromas of roast, oats, chocolate, coffee, and I’m getting some wood. Tastes of oats, vanilla, chocolate, roast and coffee. Oily body.