Stone 12th Anniversary Bitter Chocolate Oatmeal Stout

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

Bottle at The Penguin. Huge collapsing chocolate mousse head over tar, lacing thickly at the strength. Burnt toast and oak chip charcoal aroma completely drowning out the chocolate. Spiritous whiskey burn from the off, lightning struck oak, toast fished out of the bin...just a mouthful of smouldering carbon really. Oily but not slick or luxurious. What a disappointment. All roast and no hops, certainly no chocolate or oatmeal. Crumb of incinerated nut, dab of yeast extract. One of the rawest, most ethanol-drenched efforts I’ve had in a while. Bit more choc lurking in the bottom of the bottle, but such a thin and one-dimensional flavour profile. Saw it all off in the end. Not a bad beer but a bad chocolate oatmeal stout.

Bottled. Pitch black with a small to medium brown head. Quite malty with notes of chocolate, hops, grain, hops and a hint of ashtray - also a bit vinous. Quite nice and well balanced.

Aroma: No surprise - smells like dark, bitter chocolate.Alcohol noticeable in nose. Appearance: Completely opaque, basically black. Thin but medium brown head present. Flavor: Neutral at first with a quick sharp rush / bit on the tongue of carbonation and intense bitterness with a smooth, rich, malty finish. Palate: Overall initial to finish time is actually quite short making this boldly named stout feel more like a weak porter. Overall Impression: Not bad but probably will not purchase again. Did enjoy the bitterness with the smooth malty finish.

Although non beer geeks made fun of this IS, this beer had great flavors of oatmeal and chocolate. Roasted flavors but not burned roasted. Overall great Imperial Stout.

Very dark brown. Roasty and burnt dark fruits on the nose - even more so than in the Zywiec I just had. There is a nice nuttiness to this nose as well, from the oatmeal. Very oaty body. Rich chocolate taste with a hint of roast, slight burnt fruit. This really cuts between your typical low-grav oatmeal stout and a top-fermented Baltic porter.

Cocoa hops and malt join in great harmony. Fairly great density of flavors as promised by the dense blackish-brown pour (it has dark cognac edges and espresso-like foam.0 Taste is a little smokey! That’s the roast character when it warms up. I think the bitterness is mostly the hops. A little alcohol creeps through though not much.... aroma is subtle and rich for the blanket or rich malt chocolate and hops in the flavor.

Full bodied. Pours dark black with a nice amount of brown head. On the aroma I get chocolate, coffee, a hint of sweet malts. Some toffee in there as well and an oh so subtle hint of caramel. Great mouthfeel. On your palate you get chocolate, coffee, toffee and again a subtle hint of caramel also oatmeal in there as well. Great beer! Stays on your palate for awhile reminding you of it’s chocolately deliciousness.

22 oz bottle, via Stateline Liquors. Pours a pitch black body with a great creamy espresso brown head that fell to a thin covering. The nose is pretty great, roast, espresso, dark chocolate, and just a little bit of hops. Smells like dessert! The first sip takes me back though, very astringent and over roasted with too much alcohol and too much hops. The bitterness from the chocolate combine with the hops to just assault the tongue. Hot harsh finish. The mouthfeel doesn’t help things either, it’s just not thick or creamy enough to withstand all this alcohol or hops. This just is not that pleasurable to drink. Too much of everything.