Stone 12th Anniversary Bitter Chocolate Oatmeal Stout

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.

dark oily pour, brown frothy head. very roasty aroma, tons of chocolate, a little bit of sourness from burnt barley, very sweet. more balanced flavor, bittersweet milk chocolate and bitter but somewhat flat finish. a bit thin for an Imperial Stout actually, but otherwise very silky texture and light carbonation. alcohol is slightly warming but well-hidden

Deep pitch black coloured body with a strong brown head. Aroma of molasses, malt, coffee, whiskey, oak and a bunch of vanilla and a bit of tobacco. Medium-bocdied; Strong assertive roasted malt and chocolate coupled with some sour pungent lactic flavours and sweet sugars. Aftertaste strong and potent - not complex at all and fairly one-dimensional. Overall, a decent beer - better than most of Stone’s sub-par offerings. I sampled this 65 cL bottle purchased from Merchant’s in Dearborn, Michigan on 03-August-2008, sampled on the Eastern Shore of Virginia on 02-July-2009.

Sample from a bottle at the Stone tasting in Tallahassee. This one has a striking aroma of deep roasted chocolate that really stands out. Rich and smooth with more chocolate in the flavor. I really enjoyed this one, outstanding beer.