Stone 12th Anniversary Bitter Chocolate Oatmeal Stout

Dark black with a small dark brown head. Aroma of bitter chocolate, roasted malt and alcohol. Flavor starts with roasted malts then a strong alcohol flavor and finishes with dark chocolate.

Bottled. Inky black pour, with a nice brown head that faded quickly, leaving a bit of lace on the glass. The nose was roasty and chocolatey. Flavor was bitter chocolate, roasted, smoky malt, and a nice touch of alcohol underlying it all. The finish was soft, perhaps due to the oatmeal. Dry finish. I really enjoyed this one, and the use of bitter chocolate to replace the extra hops was genius.

Courtesy dragonstout. Pours a really nice looking black body with a foamy tan head that leaves good lacing all around the glass. The aroma is really nice on this one with the bittersweet chocolate coming through, with some cream, and a hint of smoke as well.There is a little bit of roastiness in there, but it’s all chocolate on this one. The flavor follows these same lines with the dark and bittersweet chocolate up front with some cream and roasty bitterness on the backend. Medium-full bodied and creamy mouthfeel and good carbonation lend this to go down very smoothly. The finish is long and roasty with some cocoa sweetness leaving you wanting more. This is really well crafted and great tasting. I need to get some more of this.

Bomber: Aroma of nice sweet chocolate, a decent amount of roasted malt notes, a light backing of something light and fruit, and definite signature Stone big bad hop notes. Appearance is a deep motor oil back pout with a medium sized tan head that lingers for a while. Taste is kind of unique. A bright almost big hoppy note at first then slowly diminishing into a nice bitter sweet chocolate note. Overall, Big bold and nice stout all around.

I gotta say, I was pretty stoked to try this beer, stone is one of my favorite breweries and they never disappoint. I expected this beer to be a little better than it was, but it was still pretty damn good. Pours as black as a beer can be with a decent chocolate brown head that melts to nothing. The aroma is the standard coffee and chocolate, with notes of vanilla, black licorice, and alcohol. The flavour is a pretty good reflection of the aroma, starts off with a a bit of dark coffee, some black licorice in the middle, a subtle note of vanilla bean, and finishes with a strong dark chocolate finish that lasts until you take the next sip. A very satisfying beer, with a nice velvety mouth feel that does the beer justice. Just wish it was a touch more complex. Still a top notch beer from a top notch brewery!

Bomber. Pours tar, tan head. Aroma is chocolate, anise, smoke, coffee, pine, molasses, Flavor is the same with emphasis on smoke. The mouth feel is very oily. I’m not super impressed. This is good, but not great.

bomber from G&G, poured into a snifter. pours thick, jet black, and leaves a thin chocolate brown head atop the glass. aroma is complex with hints of coffee, vanilla bean, roasty malt, and some hops peaking through. flavor is wonderful, as expected from a stone special release. starts out like a good stout, with flavors of expresso and dark roasted malt. the sweet/bitterness of the dark chocolate comes in after the swallow joining the slight warmth of the alcohol. there are also subtle hints of vanilla, toffee, and some hop bitterness. overall, another great anniversary beer from stone that is surely to get better with aging.

Bottle. Aroma has notes of espresso, chocolate, roasted malts, and some sweet fruitiness. Very dark brown that looks black in the glass. Smaller than average tan head that left some lace and mostly diminished. Flavor is sweet, creamy and finishes very bitter. Palate is oily soft and full bodied. Was hoping for something much different. I think this brew was good in theory but lacks big time in reality.