Stone 12th Anniversary Bitter Chocolate Oatmeal Stout

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

Draft@ Brouwers. Black with a tan head. Cocoa powder and roasted malt aromas. Full body. Strong flavor is chocolate, coffee, with a harsh charred oatmeal flavor, which reminded me of a burnt oatmeal / peanut butter cookie. Astringent alcohol bite to finish. Is this better in a bottle?

Bomber from Bev4Less. Pours a slick oily looking black color with a nice dark brown head. Rich roasted malty aroma. Fairly bitter with quite a bit of coffee. Strong roasted malty flavors. Some bitter coffee in the finish. Kind of hot at the moment.

Bottle courtesy of Tony at OTH & Idatetheformula. What is there to say? Another great beer to come out of Stone that never ceases to amaze me. Pours black with a dark brownish head. Aroma is roasted, oat and malty. Taste is indeed a little bitter but balanced with the chocolate. Another winner.

22 oz. bottle. Pours a very dense black with a very rich looking dark brown head that sadly disappeared after two or three sips. Pleasant but surprisingly light aroma of chocolate, malt, and a hint of tobacco. The flavor is thankfully less bashful than the aroma with malt, licorice, and plenty of chocolate, particularly in the aftertaste. I’m also glad there is no sign of tobacco in the flavor. More bitter at the finish than I think of with an imperial stout, but then again this is Stone. Enjoyable.

bottle thanks to bhops. black with a huge 3 finger tan almost chocolate head. huge chocolate notes with roasted malts on the nose. at first the roastiness comes through and overpowers everything until the end when the chocolate works it’s magic.

Not too much head, black as midnight with some tan lacing going on. Taste has coffee, chocolate, roasty, with some dark fruits. Smell is roast, toast, coffee, alcohol, and chocolate.

22 oz bottle. Opaque black in color with a medium sized light brown head. Aroma: chocolate, licorice, and tobacco, and alcohol, mild roast. Taste on this is still a bit green, roast, chocolate, licorice, molasses, a moderate amount of alcohol and oats. All the characteristics of a good RIS are there, they just don’t seem to integrate well yet. Moderate roasty and hoppy bitter finish. Full bodied, medium-full for the style. Good, and should get alot better with age.

Black body with a resilient tawny creamed head. Deep oily roast in the nose with tinges of alcohol and perhaps plum. Moderately creamy body with strong thrust of deep, dark roast and sharp alcohol. Rough-hewn chocolate, charcoal, whiskey, and oreos pervade the finish.