Stone 12th Anniversary Bitter Chocolate Oatmeal Stout

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

Bottle from the Coop in Davis, CA. It is indeed a black pour with a 2-finger tan/brown head. Aroma is primarily chocolate over dark roasted, not burnt, malt. Full bodied with chewy carbonation. Flavor is a touch of heat, dark roasted malt, coffee, and some chocolate bitter. Very well integrated. The hop doesn’t stand out until things have pretty well gone down. Guess that’s a description for the finish. Really outstanding. Great nose.

Thanks a lot Mark. The body is perfectly black with a surprisingly dark brown sugar color. The aroma is massive with dark chocolate and raisins. There is a persistent musky note throughout. The taste is strong brewed coffee with some bitter cocoa. As I drink more, the bitterness is slightly balanced with some molasses, but then it gets overwhelmed in the finish. A good beer for those that like bitterness from a source other than hops or coffee.

Cocoa, biscuit and cookie dough in the aroma with some light underlying dark malts and plenty of oatmeal. Opaque, dark brown body is topped by a low, tan head that recedes to a partial cover with some lacing. Biscuity and chocolate malts are quite sweet up front but are quickly joined by a pretty firm bitterness and plenty of dark malt character. Alcohol is quite apparent in the aftertaste. Medium full body with rich texture and fairly strong effervescence. Plenty of alcohol warming. Shaker glass. Approx cellar temperature. Bottle (Hi Time, Aug-08).

Bottle and served in my Stone IRS snifter: Near opaque with a creamy but fading head and very good lacing. The aroma has notes of bittersweet chocolate, oats, rye, charred and toasty malt, some fig and pear esters, coffee and flowery vapours. The taste starts chocolaty with a nice counter of hop/coffee bitterness. Some dark fruit and lactic twang adds depth of palate. A bit ashy and tannic on the finish. The mouth feel has a rich oily character balanced out by some alcohol. A very nicely done beer, Cheerio Stone.

Cask at GBBF 2008 ... deep deep oily black ... pours like 12 year old oil ... light sweet smooth malt nose .. thick sweet chocolate malts little vanilla 3.6... Bottle at home ... solid black thick tan head ... roast malts little chocolate little vanilla in nose ... quite bitter up front ... too much for me ... again roast malts ... allmost an motor oil flavour ... 3.5

GBBF, Trade Day, 2008 Gravity cask. Smooth, tasty, easy drinking and sweet. American hops and American cookie dough. Very tasty and enjoyable.

Draught. High creamy and lasting brown head. Pitch black body. Coffee choccolate aroma and flavor with a touch of vanilla and a good deal of hops bitterness. High carbonation and a long sweet aftertaste.

Picked up a single 22-oz bomber at Riley’s World of Wines in downtown Madison, WI. Pours an opaque very dark brown brew with a thick tan head that has a nice retention and some good lacing. Aroma of dark chocolate, touch of coffee and plenty of toasted dark malt. Taste is full bodied, very light carbonation with flavors of thick toasted dark malt, bittersweet chocolate, toffee and some citrus zest. Finish is thick texture with a bitter chocolate and molasses aftertaste that lingers after the finish.