Stone 12th Anniversary Bitter Chocolate Oatmeal Stout

Formerly brewed at Stone Brewing Co.
Style: Imperial Stout
Escondido, California USA

Bitter is absolutely right. The chocolate lends it a substantially different bitter quality than normal hops-bittered beers, but it’s very interesting and still very drinkable, a little chalky, but all in all good stuff.

Poured from bottle. Aroma of dark chocolate and fruit. Not quite the head as sen in picture. Pours oily black, thin tan head. Burnt chocolate flavor, like the edge pieces from the brownie pan. Oatmeal gives it a creaminess, alcohol is hardly noticed. Good finish. Great stuff.

22 oz bottle
This has been sitting for a while. After getting through some of my backlog I cracked it open and wish I had gotten to it sooner. I hope this goes into regular rotation or at least stays on the shelves for a few more months. Most people seem to have tried it but if you haven’t snap it up now. it is worth every penny.

Aroma / Appearance - Creamy black liquid curled around the bottom of the glass slowly filling to the top. An oily sheen of head indicated plenty of life as did the nice sheet of clear lacing. Baker’s chocolate, oatmeal, and a tease of prune melded into a very smooth blend with only a hint of the underlying alcohol.

Flavor / Palate - The texture of liquid brownies filled the mouth. Sticking to the tongue and throat it crawled along with an accompanying flavor of almonds and dark chocolate. Smooth and mellow from start to finish this was a great winter warmer. If I had the time and space I would certainly pick up another bottle.

2009-02-28. Pitch black with a modest khaki head. (4+) Sweet aroma, sweet malt, rich cocoa and mild dry roast malt, light alcohol notes. (7+) Flavour is similar, fairly dry overall impression, dry roasty malt, and dry cocoa has a dusty character somehow, sweet underlying malt base. Very light bitterness in the finish. Smooth medium bodied palate is a touch under carbonated. (3+) Pretty decent. Bottle from Village Beer Merchant, Buffalo

Bottle. Pours a deep deep ruby red brownish color, just a hint of light coming through. Flavor is cocoa powder, roasted malt, bittersweet chocolate, nuttiness, oatmeal. Body is typical oatmeal stout, thick and creamy but still light bodied. Sweet, but not overly so. Finish is black coffee. Well done, nice beer.

Pours an opaque, dense chocolate brown with tan colored head. Aroma is malt with anise seed and grain/earthy notes. Flavor has a lot of coffee/espresso notes and the bitterness of unsweetened cacao. Dark roasted malts and vanilla extract. Body is light yet very creamy with mild carbonation. Very well down. Beautiful chocolate notes as they are far from over done but present in the flavor.

Draft. Gravity Head 2009 "The Liver Olympics." Opaque black body with an enticing, frothy, brown head that slowly recedes. Malty aroma of roasted malts, chocolate, coffee with notes of alcohol and a hint of plastic, but not enough to be off-putting. The flavor is moderately to heavily sweet and moderately bitter, especially in the finish where it turns heavily bitter. It leaves tastes of bitter coffee and chocolate (more bitter than chocolate) and burnt malts and, finally some plastic. Medium to full body with a slick texture and lively carbonation. The beer did not wow me, but I did enjoy it.

Tap @ Stone Bistro during the RBSG 2008. Poured black with a copper edge and beige head. Very roasty aroma with some sweet coffee. Roasted malt and dark chocolate flavor. Warming with a medium body.