Southern Tier Oat

Brewed by Southern Tier Brewing Company
Style: Imperial Stout
Lakewood, New York USA

I need to chill out and give Southern Tier the props they deserve.

Based largely on the dismal failures that I consider their IPAs and strong ales to be, this one of those breweries that I love to hate.

But darn it, Southern Tier Oat was one heck of an imperial stout if you like your stouts sweet and oatmealy. I like oatmealy -- and while I don’t like uber-sweet so much, this beer comes through in spades when it comes to an ice cream float. Yep, Southern Tier Oat and Southern Tier Chocolate are my new #1 and #2 ice cream float beers. This one: coffee and chocolate, of course, some heat but not bad at all one year in, black cherry, and when you take a scoop of the ice cream out with a spoon, all coated with stout, you get the most amazing toasted marshmellow you can imagine. Huge props for that alone, additional for brewing a what I imagine to be nothing short of a great imperial stout for those sweet-tooths out there.

Pours black with a brown head. The aroma is chocolaty with raisins, coffee, and lactose. The flavor is beautiful. Raisins, plums up front with chocolate and coffee coming through next and caramel/toffee like smoothness on the palate. It also has a great roasted bitter finish. Really well balanced with all the great imperial stout flavors.

Pours black opaque from the 22oz. bottle with a tan head that matches the color of the bottle’s label exactly: Amplified flavors of roasted malts, oatmeal, molasses, dark chocolate and vanilla. Mild alcohol in the finish. Short, sweet, and to the point. A signature Southern Tier brew. Drinkability: Bomber. Rebuy: Yes. #210 on 22112009, DG.

2007 bottle. Pour is black with a very thin off-white head. Aroma is deep roasted malt, molasses, chocolate, dark fruits, and tobacco. It smells wonderful. Flavor is rich chocolate malt with a nice round dark fruit flavor. Finish is sweet with light coffee. Did not know how this would hold up over time, but it is still a beautiful beer with very little if any oxidation.

30th August 2008. Opaque black beer with a tan head. Silky smooth stout. Sweet with a fruity note just after the middle. Ends with an almost whiskeyish sour spirit. Very well joined up. Sumptuos, delicious!

Pours a very dark brown with basically no head. Not a lot of aroma, but some dark malts, hops and coffee. Taste is thick with medium dark malt, coffee, cocoa and some hops on the finish. Thick and syrupy and sweet, but that seems to be Southern Tier’s thing. Not as sweet as the Chocolate stout from Southern Tier. Very good for a sweet style stout.

Bomber - Black pour with small but dense tan foam head. Dark brewed and robust aroma. Thick malt texture with harvest grains and slight bitter sweet hop notes. Somewhat boozy, this steeped stout has some weight!

22 oz. bottle. Pours a jet black oil with creamy light brown head. Rich aroma of roasted malt, alcohol present, licorice, sweet coffee. Taste of roast, smoke, coffee, caramel, blackberry. True this beer is thick, but it is not as syrupy as it looks. Long finish where bitterness of the hops becomes present.