Stone 12th Anniversary Bitter Chocolate Oatmeal Stout

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

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.

Pours like a thick, black work of art with a deep tan head that stays kissed to the glass. Aroma is intense of chocolate and soy sauce. Flavor is bitter chocolate and soy sauce. Subtle alcohol finish. Incredibly velvety smooth with some thickness to it. Fairly impressive.

pours a deep brown with a tan head. bitter chocolate. cold pressed coffee. roasted malts. bitter, sweet. ok, not great

Had on tap a couple times when it released a year ago, but this rating based on a bomber from brewery ($5.50). Pours an opaque black with a lovely dark brown head. Aroma of heavy roasted and slightly burnt malt along with some nutty oatmeal. I don’t get much of the chocolate in the nose. Flavor of is initially roasted malts with a bit of sweetness, some coffee, and only a slight hint of the oats. Then the bitter chocolate taste comes in strong toward the finish and then lingers. The taste is good until that chocolate kicks in and then it’s great. Full bodied and thick. Another excellent and unique one from Stone. On days like these, I’m so happy to live in San Diego -- they don’t call it America’s Finest City for nothing.

Bottle, almost room temperature - compliments of BuckyeBoy: Thick brownish-black pour with some serious viscosity. The head is similar to the color of the bubbles on your car oil after you have drained it into the oil pan. Sweet smelling aromas of brown sugar, alcohol, and something else i can’t quite nail down. The flavor doesn’t have the typical oatmeal stout slick feel. I has a nice, burnt, choco-coffee flavor. The aftertaste is pleasant and thick. Verytasty!

Bottle curtessy of Buckeyeboy. Deep pitch black, of course, with lots of chocolate, molassas, an licorice in the aroma. some soy and potting soil aswell. reminescent of STONE’s RIS. Tastes roasted, but soft and smooth. Served a bit warm, so it seemed a bit more thin and fumey than it probly would have been. The oats give it that nice slick feel that goes down very smooth. carbonation is just aabout right. a bit soft.