Stone 12th Anniversary Bitter Chocolate Oatmeal Stout

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

Bottle. Poured a deep brown/black color with a bubbly quarter-inch tan head that eventually faded to nothing. Aroma of chocolate, some light roasted malts, anise, black licorice, and alcohol. Smooth, sweet entry with a hint of anise and some light roasted maltiness and a bit of chocolate with a light undertone of smoke that finishes with a light bitterness and lingering notes of black licorice. Low carbonation and moderate mouthfeel. The aroma was hard to detect over the alcohol presence, and the flavor was too abrasive to enjoy very much. Hopefully time will smooth this out.

I’ve never seen so many words on a bottle of beer. Wasted several minutes of my life reading them with a magnifying glass and learned little of interest. Oily black colour with a dark brown head. Roasted malt aroma with some sweetness and a hint of alcohol. Chocolate and espresso taste, quite sweet, smooth and oily, with a strong late bitterness. The oatmeal is there, but I probably wouldn’t have noticed it had it not been for the beer’s name.

Bottle thanks to fata2683: Poured a thick oil black with a chocolate colored head. Aroma is dark chocolate, roasted malts, and strong coffee bean. The taste is rich with chocolate, coffee, and offseting hops. Very pleased with this beer from start to finish.

Pours out like used motor oil with a dense mocha head that has moderate retention. The nose emanates an arms length from the glass. No lacing sticks at all. The nose is robust, with heavily roasted malt, espresso, anise and booze. They weren’t kidding when they said bitter! chocolate. The oatmeal is present in that sweetness I can only identify as oatmeal from other oatmeal stouts. It is definitely intense. The aftertaste is coffee-like with some citric hops, bitter dark chocolate (almost like baking cocoa) and a fair amount of booze. The palate up front is incredibly full and silky with perfectly matched soft carbonation. Surprisingly, the finish cuts out quick, though not in flavor, but in body. Towards the end, the palate seems to evaporate and turn watery. At the same time, it is drying and warming. A good brew for sure.

22oz bottle. Pours a black, thick liquid with a small brown head. Nose is chocolate, coffee, toffee. Palate is very thick, oily, sticky, coating. Flavors are chocolate and oatmeal with some Dark malt notes, resin. I very much enjoyed this one

Great smokey/ chocolatey taste. drinks very smooth, As usual a great beer from stone

Reviewed 1/22/2009 (bottle Dated July 2008): Pours an extremely dark black brown colored body with an average brown colored head, diminishing. Chocolate, malty aroma, with some oatmeal too. Smell of somewhat bitter chocolate. Sweet like a milk stout. Sweet creamy mouthfeel. Slightly bitter aftertaste. A little bit of hotness but some sweet stoutiness too. Oatmeal taste. A little alcoholy but pretty good. Maybe airing this one out will do it some good. A little better as it warms up/airs out.

Pitch black with a very thin tan head. Aroma is very bitter chocolate bark and alcohol. Taste is very bitter right in the middle with the baking chocolate, not much roastiness, some coffee and dark fruits notes but a big alcohol bite. Not that nice.