Samuel Smiths Oatmeal Stout

Brewed by Samuel Smith
Style: Stout
Tadcaster, England

Dark reddish brown appearance, thick head formation. Intense rich wine fruitiness in the aroma, jammy, black cherry and cranberry, mild roasted malts/ Dry roasted palate mixed with sweet berry fruitiness, silky chocolate smoothness, mildly dry in the finish. One of the break through beers for me. Incredible fruitiness for a relatively "small" beer.

From my tasting notes at an "earlier" date, @ Old Chicago. Pours a deep ruby with a small tan head. Aroma of raisins, molasses, light coffee, and oats. Taste was of bitter chocolate, raisins--seemed "cappucinoish." A bit thin bodied with moderate to high carbonation. I don’t remember trying this one nor how long ago did I do this, so I may have been schmammered and need to rerate this, but for the time being this rating stands.

Bottle at Angels in the Field in Marylebone (London), pours dark black with a large foamy off-white head. A roasted malt aroma with a good fruity hoppiness. Quite bitter and hoppy in the mouth, roasted malt, but a little grainy. But pretty good.

Aroma of chocolate and coffee. Surprisingly bitter flavor profile, with notes of chocolate, coffee, roasted caramel malt, and nuts. Palate seems silky yet watered-down somehow. A fine quality beer.

Bottle poured in pint glass. Opaque chocolate brown with 4 finger, lasting tan head that forms a nice crusty lacing. Aroma is at first cookie or biscuit-like, then molasses with slight chocolate and hops. Taste is incredibly smooth, enticingly sweet malt balanced well with hops, a trace of smoke flavor, and dark fruit. Quite a complex taste. Palate is medium and velvet, beer is not so heavy and filling as some stouts, definitely could have three or four of these. Hard to believe this beer has been pasteurized as in the description? I can’t recall sampling a better stout.

<!-- i -->550 ml bottle.<!-- /i --> Well, only when I poured did I realize this was a clear bottle. Well, there were no skunks waiting as I opened, so I should be okay. Instead, an enticing waft of roast barleys, "beer" alcohol, and the slight hint of marshmallow fluff I think about with some oatmeals. Pours deep black under a brown-eggshell head the consistency of root beer foam. Taste is quite mild and warming. Those roasties come through well, but not with astringency. Oats keep a nice creamy mouthfeel as I go along. Kind of sugary at the start, but tends to want to dry out further along. Kind of surprised that the description up front is about its being pasteurized and CO2-conditioned, but perhaps that’s how it could travel so well.

Pours black, with a smallish light brown head. Smells of alot of dark fruit here, I got some substantial banana in there. Some sweet maltiness backs up the dark fruit as well. The flavor has a really good dose of that banana and dark fruit as well. The dark malts and light chocolate seemed to keep it somewhat balanced and keep it from being overly fruity. Amost had some German and Belgian quad characters to it. Pretty good. Nice body. I know its a sweet stout, but maybe just a little too much for my taste though.

A mixture of every color except black. The aroma is deep yet mild. A subtle perfume of chocolate, vanilla, pit fruit, milk, wet leaves and currants. I love the creamy texture and the suprising full body. Rich, deep malts, nice chocolate, coffee, minimal but identifiable sourness and a nice pleasing hop bitterness on the finish. A lovely brew.