Stone 12th Anniversary Bitter Chocolate Oatmeal Stout

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

Bottle. Pours black with tan head. Aroma is chocolate, coffee, bread. Flavor is cocoa, coffee, creamy, and malty. Rich finish with a little alcohol flavor.

Bomber. It’s good to see the 10th anniversary demon has been brought back on their newest. Pours a dark brown color with a medium chunky head. Aroma was the definitive bitter chocolate along with roasted dark malt. Taste added creamy oatmeal and just a hint of dark fruit. Pretty warm with alcohol. Medium-full body.

Bottled. Pours dark w/minimal tan/brown head. Aroma is bitter dark chocolates...some cerises as well. Taste is nice and sweet with a bit of a bitter kick. Well done Stone as usual.

22 oz bomber from Spirits Unlimited Toms River Rt 37. Pours blacker then a moonless night with a large thick mocha head. Boy do I love the look of a nice Impy Stout. Aroma on this one is still hop heavy with some pinapple notes mingling in with oatmeal and slight chocolate but mostly dominated by lots of roastiness and alcohol. Palate is smooth and full with some noticable warming on the back of my throat from the 9.2%. It sort of reminds me of when Rerun from What’s Hapening starts dancing. Big and full yet somehow smooth. Flavor has lots of burnt notes with only slight bitter chocolate being detectable. Good beer and I am curious to see how it will cellar.

Bottled. Pours an opaque dark brown with a medium tan head that settles into a ring. Fairly light aroma of roasted malt, a little chocolate and smoke. Nice slick mouthfeel coats the tongue with chocolate and oatsplus flavours of coffee. Finishes with a little warming alcohol. Good now but hopefully it will age and get better. Extra points for the creativity of bitter chocolate vs. hops.

smells like roasted malt, nutty, a little bit boozy. totally opaque, looks like liquid chocolate when it pours. doesn’t really remind me of a stout, tastes more like a stout FLAVORED beer. Doesn’t really taste like chocolate (more like baking cocoa), but it is spicy and bitter. No sweetness at all. Feels dusty and chalky in my mouth, just like cocoa. Fairly good.

Bottle. Moderate malt aromas of burnt, molasses and dark chocolate, light perfume and meat for the hops and yeast, with smoke, alcohol and almond in the background. Head is frothy brown (which gets lighter as it settles) with fair lacing and is mostly diminishing. Color is black. Flavor starts moderatelt sweet and lightly acidic, then finishes lightly acidic and moderate to heavily bitter. Palate is medium to full, dry and has a soft carbonation. It finishes moderatley alcoholic. I really liked the boldness of this Imperial Stout. It was rich and well rounded.

Bottle. Very dark brownish black pour with small dark caramel colored head. Aroma is some sweet dark chocolate but mostly roasted malt. Flavor is pretty nice, mostly burnt and roasted malt, bitter chocolate, some residual oaty / malty sweetness, and a bitter chocolate / roasted malt finish.