Stone 12th Anniversary Bitter Chocolate Oatmeal Stout

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

Bottle from Bevmo. Black with a brown fizzy head. Sweet roasty chocolate and grain aroma. Sweet mildly bitter dark chocolate taste, good roasty taste with a bitter malty finish. Pretty good.

An impenetrable black body is crowned by a frothy, chocolate-milk colored head. Patchy, spotty lacing leaves its mark all the way down the glass. The aroma is mouth watering, causing the nostrils to flare at the first waft of bittersweet chocolate, dry cocoa, and mocha cream. Some espresso roastiness creeps in on the back end, but the aroma is all about chocolate here. Flavors follow suit, overflowing with dark, semi-sweet chocolate and lactic creaminess. Earthy hop notes lend further bitterness, while star anise adds in its signature spice. The finish lingers semi-sweet and roasty for quite some time. Medium-full bodied, with balanced carbonation, this goes down quite easy and shows very little alcoholic heat. One of the best chocolate stouts I’ve tried to date, this one falls just short of classics like Brooklyn BCS and Foothills Sexual Chocolate. Great beer.

Cask, gravity dispense, at the GBBF 2008. ABV was said to be 9.5%. Pitch black colour, minimal head. Complex roasted aroma with notes of oak, dark chocolate, liquorice and tar. Intense flavour of cocoa / chocolate, figs(?) and coffee(?) - I have some difficulties reading my own handwriting here .... Warming mouthfeel, oaky and alcoholic notes. A great sipping beer.

7/12/2008: Don’t let the name completely fool you. Be sure to read the label as "bitter chocolate" not separately as "bitter" ... "chocolate" as this beer is definitely bitter, but there isn’t really a rich, creamy chocolate quality about it. That’s completely fine by me, but I wan’t to put that disclaimer out there for those who might see "chocolate" in the name and expect it in the aroma and beer. I guess it is there to some extent, but not in the way many would probably expect. Anyways, this beer pours an extremely dark brown color and has a slightly violet-like hue to it. The tan-colored head is thick and does not disappear quickly. Had I been blindfolded and not poured this beer myself, I would have guessed that somebody place a big bowl of steamy oatmeal in front of me dusted with some cocoa powder! It smells delicious. That same hearty and creamy oatmeal runs throughout the flavor and helps to mute the alcohol that comes across a bit sharp at times. There is also plenty of bitter chocolate and roasted maltiness in the flavor as well. The bitterness is quite apparent and is enough to turn most away. Remember, this is a BITTER chocolate stout and as such has quite a bit of that unsweetened Baker’s Chocolate quality to it. This beer has a medium-full body and is creamy and slick on the palate. Overall this is really the best Oatmeal Stout I have had in a very long time. Stone did an excellent job of balancing all of the characteristics to create this Imperialized Oatmeal Stout. They were also able to achieve a high level of bitterness by using the bitter chocolate and presumably a much lower than previously used amount of hops. Congratulations to them for pulling off such a tasty a fairly unique beer that features artisan chocolate and lots and lots of yummy oats! Stone Twelfth Anniversary Bitter Chocolate Oatmeal Stout

1 Pt. 6 Fl. Oz. bottle (9.2% Alc/Vol) from The Party Source in Bellevue, Kentucky. Rating #62 for this beer...

I liked this beer. It’s a black pour with a two finger brown head. The aroma is of oatmeal and bittersweet chocolate. Nice on the palate: thick & smooth, overall it/’s a tasty combination of oatmeall, chocolate & roasty flavors with an appropriate level of hoppiness

Bottle black pour was much more viscous than I was expecting. Aroma of cocoa, smoked meat, some vanilla, earth and smoke. Almost smells barrel aged. I really liked the aroma, much more than I would have thought. Sort of a mishmash of components. Some smoked elements Imperial Stouts Baltic Porter and sweet stout. The flavor didnt match up to the fantastic aroma. Not very bitter in the finish. The flavor oscillated between smoky malt, cocoa and vanilla/milk/sweetness. Not sure how much I like this. It is definitely good, but not great. Would have liked some more bitterness.

I had been looking forward to trying this. Poured an inky black with a compact dark tan head that lasted nicely, couldn’t ask for much more in hte way of appearance. Aroma was good, a mix of chocolate and espresso, strong and enticing. The flavor was essentially a match for the nose. A bit one dimensional in its chocolate and coffee focus, but overall a good balance of bitterness and sweetness from the malts and added chocolates. As it warmed, some slightly hot alcohols made their presence felt in a way that subtracted quite a bit from the overall enjoyment of the beer. It is rare that I prefer a beer cold over warm, but this was much better straight out of the fridge than when it hit room temperature. Because of the significant malt body, I am hoping that age will tame the high alcohols a bit. As it is, this was a good beer. But not a masterpiece like the 11th.

22 ounce bottle purchased at the Davis Food Co-Op. Aroma has a nice roasty, slightly sweet chocolate milk-like quality present. Pretty sweet with a bit of vinousness. Smells pretty tasty. Opaque black body with a brown frothy head and nice lacing. Sexy. Starts a little roasted and bitter. Some coffee and dark choco notes then make an appearance. Finishes dry, bitter, hopped, and with some ethanolic bitterness. Some grapefruit hop flavors are present. I would like a little more sweetness from this and have less bitterness/burnt/dry/ethanol flavors. Just seems kinda harsh. It does live up to its name, though, so I shouldn’t complain.