Stone 12th Anniversary Bitter Chocolate Oatmeal Stout

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

Pours black with a tanned head. Smells a bit of alcohol. Sweet with some bitterness. Loads of chocolate. Tiny hints of wine. Also hints of toasted malts. Medium to full bodied. Medium carbonation. Chocolaty bitter finish.

22 ounce bottle. Pours opaque black with a kind of glowing reddish brown head. Lots of cocoa powder and oat character in the nose. It reminded me a lot of no bake cookies. There is also a slight smokey note. Very chocolatey and plenty of roast flavor. Aggressive bitter finish. Full bodied and oily. Low carbonation. Good, but I think they tried to cram too much in to the bottle.

The Dan Journal #206. 22oz bomber. Tasted 7/21/08. Pitch black hue. Spiraling beige head. Chocolate and vanilla nose. Slight coffee note. Full bodied and fresh! Bright fruity flavors. Good rich, dark malts. Moderate hop palate. Nice bitterness. Good coffee acidity with a moderate burn. Bright and fresh with a subtle vinuous quality. Rolling palate, with the sweet, tart, sour and bitter all touched, and retained. Dark chocolate and anise. Mildly spicy. Good and ready to rock!

Bottle. Pours near black with a brown head. Dark chocolate aroma, mostly bitter with some sweetness, as well as roast and hops. Very lasting creamyness. Roasted and bitter chocolate flavor, just a hint of boozee, with a lasting floraly and roasted bitter finish. Very nice.

Bottle. Pitch black with a brown head. Very roasty aroma with chocolate, tobacco and coffee notes. Creamy body. Flavour is lots of roasted malts, licorice, chocolate and a bite of alcohol.

Bottle: Near black pour with a medium sized, dense brown head. Nose is roasty malt with chocolate and some light coffee/mocha notes. Flavor is an intense roasted malt, chocolate, coffee, and bittersweet dark cocoa. Has a light oatmeal stout element. Some hoppy notes are present as well. Plenty of bitters, as the title would suggest. Creamy mouthful. Should age well; I hope to manage my cellar properly...

man!!.. i wish i had cases and cases of this brew, it lives up to the stature of an anniversary beer most definetly ... "i will never love an otter" ... wow, lots of dark chocolate and bitter chocolate in the aroma and taste department ... pours a dark brown .. just plain delicious!! ..nuff said

Bottle from Sean. I thought I would open this and watch the RNC tonight. Man that Palin is a VPILF. Black colored pour, tan head. Typical stout pour - nothing new here. Smell is sweet, full of chocolate, roasted malts, some caramel flavors, and of course, a little bit of hops. Taste is sweet and somewhat bitter, incredibly thick and smooth. Almost too much carbonation at times, but all in all it seems very good. Honestly I cant tell much difference between this and the RIS. Its good, really good. Not much else to say.