Stone 12th Anniversary Bitter Chocolate Oatmeal Stout

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

On tap at the Falling Rock in Denver. Thick, black oily pour with a dense thin dark brown head. Beefy smoke aroma, with underlying vegemite and dark chocolate. Wow. Heavy, full-bodied, chewy, with flavours of rich dark roast coffee beans, chocolate, smoke. Bitter, bitter finish. Loved it.

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.

At Vero. Dark black-brown warm and milky hue. Sweet malty aroma beckons and reveals a super-smooth, silken and sweet body. Really nice and smooth throughout, neither too roasty nor too sweet. Good job.

22oz. Bottle: Aroma of roasted malts, chocolate, coca and molasses. Poured dark black in color with a small, creamy, dark brown head. Opaque. Flavor is lightly sweet and light to medium bitter. Flavor of alcohol, burnt malts, roasted malts, chocolate, coffee, charcoal, and some oats. Medium to full body. Smooth, creamy texture. Soft carbonation. Alcohol, and roasted malts in the finish. A little too much alcohol is discernible.

Bomber from GM Liquors; Nose first had a light bit of piney hops, then the chocolate took over; along with toastiness; black with a medium, glass-lacing, cinnamon tan head; flavor is bitter chocolate with some oaty substance in the creamy body; finish is light bitterness.

Viscous black beer, with a short-lived, dark tan head, that leaves a small ring of lace - quite a bitter cocoa/bakers chocolate aroma, with some leafy tobacco notes, a bit of ashy character, a very subtle underlying notes of berry and vanilla - alcohol is fairly strong at the back end of the aroma - it’s a good thing the word "bitter" is in the title, because there is a very strong bitterness in this one (both cocoa bitterness and hop bitterness), a bit too much so really, and this combines with some tobacco and charred character to make the beer fairly ashy - this bitterness and ashy quality overpower most of the beer’s other nuances - a little bit of vanilla/cream sweetness a very faint blueberry flavor arrive late - potent, warming alcohol in the finish - one dimensional and overly bitter/ashy, but still worth drinking - I don’t quite understand all the super-high ratings so far, though.

(Cask at GBBF, London, 5 Aug 2008) Black colour with brief, pale brown head. Roasted, malty nose with distinct notes of dark chocolate and cocoa. Roasted, malty tast with dark chocolate, cocoa and liquorice. Long finish with a good cocoa bitterness. Medium to full body, rather dry. Lovely beer!

Bottle: Opaque pour with a deep brown head which falls to a film. Very simple aroma. Tons of alcohol, dark chocolate, soy sauce, and even more ethanol notes (smells like vodka) Slick body with an extreme alcoholic flavor. Tastes like vodka with a homogeneous charred bitterness. The forefront of the flavor offers some bitter dark chocolate/bakers fudge (as notalush mentioned), as well as a salty soy sauce note. There’s just too much apparent ethanol, which is frusturating because this stuff is only 9.2% ABV (which is low, relative to many of those alcohol monster Imperial Stouts, which many happen to have less apparent alcohol flavor than this particular one) I wasn’t able to pick up on any subtleties of the malt, or any nuances at all. Reminiscent of charred vodka. I may have to re-visit this with some years behind it.