Stone 12th Anniversary Bitter Chocolate Oatmeal Stout

22oz bottle. completely black under a small brown head. chocolate aroma with a hint of floral hops. dark chocolate flavor that is very bitter with a dry finish. some soy sauce notes and

Noire foncée avec une belle mousse beige qui reste longtemps. Fort arômes de chocolat noir et d’alcool. Très riche et crémeuse, elle offre de bonnes sabeurs de chocolat amer, de malt grillé et d’alcool. Bonne bière de fin de soirée!

Poured from a 22oz. bottle into a pint glass. The color is a dark black with a brownish head and some nice lacing that hangs to the class. The smell is dark chocolate like a Mr. Goodbar, has a bit of a nutty flavor with some oat feel. The taste is bitter, some dark hop flavor with some dark chocolate flavor. This has a nice creamy feel that coats over some nice oat hints. Has a nice mix of flavor together, balancing all of these together with an easy mouthfeel, just nice. This is just another nice Stone beer. Each beer I try I am floored by how good this beer is and each time I really enjoy each flavorful beer. The feel of this beer is slightly heavy but really smooth. It has a nice drinkable flavor to it and it only gives off a slight sting to it while mixed in some nice creamy flavor.

Jet black with a small, light brown head. Aroma of malt, toffee, licorice and bourbon-like alcohol. Roasted malt flavour ranging from licorice to charcoal, some alcohol in the finish

Black. Sweet heavily roasty aroma. A touch of oats with lots of choco-coffee action in the flavor. Body exhibits the expected oatiness. Surprisingly quaffable for such a big beer.

22 oz bottle. Dark brown/black with brown tints. Nose is booze, malt, chocolate, and sweetness. Flavor is cocoa, malt, sweet and sharp. Nice finish in the mouth. Yummy. VBS is on crack.

***review from March 12, 2009***
Schinkenspeck!!!!!!!! This is the aroma. I just ate this stuff. Don’t agree? Go and some at your deli and get some and eat it - it is this smell. Behind this German cured bacon smell that I love there isn’t too much more to note aside from some slight citrus hops - very slight, some chocolate. This is very, very disappointing especially considering that it was the finishing beer of the tasting tonight - Mikkeller Jackie Brown demolished this mess (yes, it is not a comparable beer). I like the cured bacon taste (it’s taking forever to edit my brutal drunk type, I’ve pretty much mispelled every word), some oak or wood of some srot. k. fuck this. im done editing my shtitty durnk typing. I miss the sweetness of an oatmeal stout - why ruin this with the 9.2%? it doesnt make any sense. Why cannot you celebrate with a GOOD beer instread of having to make theseover the top beers ever time?. YEa, I getit. you make wacky beers. Well, this time, I’m not down with it. There is morechocolate now and still l a lingering biterness that finally i am asssoccieating with the chocoate. yea, im fairly fcked up but stil i am not enjoying this bere at all. sorry brad, this beer pretty much rots.Full bodied, oily . odd bitter finish. Can I admi t ot wasting money on a Sone beer? Yes. Yes I can. This beer is a piece of shit. Congrats on failure. ’d ove to give this a loower mark - and I should , but still it’s gt o some appealing qualities. However, this is, for me, a highly disappointing beer - a reciepie hat has failed miserablablin my eyes. THIS IS A WASTE OF MONEY. Crap beer. did they taste this before and did they assure tehmselves that they were proud to call this the Anniverasry beer? For me, th first STone failure - and such a colossal failure it is. Are you scared to give a Stone beer a bad mark? Are they reading these reviews and if you give them a positive review, are they going go give you free stuff? Open your eyes already. Really deserve a lower mark as a sub as a Impy Stout if not lower.

Poured from a bottle that has been aged for a year. It pours very thick and dark, almost like unrefined crude oil. The body on this beer has held up well. There is predominate taste of dark chocolate, with a few notes of coffee reminiscent from their imperial russian stout. The bitter chocolate gives way to a few notes of sweetness as the beer warms up. disclaimer: I tend to strongly favor just about any stout Stone has put out so if you like those you’ll definitely enjoy this one.