Stone 12th Anniversary Bitter Chocolate Oatmeal Stout

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

Pours black with thick brown head. Nice aroma of coffee, cocoa, and some licorice. Flavor is a little sweet with some nice bitterness as it goes down. The beer is thick and rich. It will be very interesting to see how well this ages. I just had an 8th Anniversary recently and hope this ages as well.

Bottle split with Andy and Pwn3d. Pours pitch black body. Aroma is mild chocolate. No oatmeal in flavor, all coffee.

Bomber. Pours dark brown, opaque, and with a medium sized tan head. Aroma is full of bittersweet chocolate, some cocoa, and roasted malt. Flavor starts a bit harsh: oatmeal is there, but bitter chocolate dominates. When it warms however it improves. More sweetness comes through, especially a nice molasses note, along with more toasted wood and roasts. Finish still shows astringency a bit more pressing than I would like, probably from the alcohol and roasts. Pretty tasty overall, though flawed.

Dark chocolate and charcoal aroma, not strong. Black, thin tan head. Charred oak. Horehound finish. Alcohol content obvious. Uncomplex and perhaps overly bitter. Ok beer, but there are way better imperial stouts.

Pours a nice deep thick n chewy black with a smalll brown head that quickly fades. Aroma is roasted barley, malts, chocolate, coffee, oats and a little dark fruit. Flavor is chocolate, coffee, malt, dark fruits with a nice bitter kick in the finish. Has a nice creamy chocolate mouthfeel and a nice viscosity to it as it sticks to the top of your mouth even after you’re done drinking.

22 oz. brown bomber bottle. Poured out a deep chocolate brown. Aromas are of Devil’s food chocolate crumb cake, Scharffen Berger Dark Cacao bars, some alcohol. Flavors are definitely Scharffen Berger chocolate. I’ll wager that’s what they used in it. Mouthfeel is somewhat rough, not as smooth as an oatmeal stout should be. Plenty of malts round out this beast of a beer. Background flavor of yeast, probably an English strain. Decent stout overall though.

Decided this would be a fitting one for #750. Stone I’d have probably never discovered or sampled without Ratebeer yet now they are among my favorite brewers. The look of this is top notch. Very very dark, motor oil, very very dark brown head. Big bubbles, settle quickly, mild hazy head, some splattered lacing. Aroma of cocoa, whiskey, prunes. Toasted malt in palate, along with a very syrupy feel, somewhat sweet yet cloying. At the end is when I notice the bitter chocolate the most, it is the aftertaste. This is along the lines of their normal imperial stout, but I like that one better. Still, great beer.

I look forward to the stone anniversary beers. This one did not dissappoint. Pours more black than brown, though the head hold a chocolate hue. Drinks very nice. Bitter then sweet, then its gone. Very nice brew.