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That's a strange name. Wait - I already had two of their beers? Who would have guessed? I don't remember either of them, even though one of them managed to get a respectable 3.75. I'm not normally nuts for an oatmeal stout (I prefer a good milk or Irish stout), but I have found many examples of beer styles I wouldn't normally gravitate toward that have caused me to change my thinking of them. Maybe this is the ground-breaker for them.
The very, very dark brown beer releases the tan head pretty quickly to leave a few meager bubbles on top with a ghost ring around the sides of the glass. I can't say the beer is particularly picturesque, but it's a simple oatmeal stout, and this is the working man of stouts. The aroma has toasted oatmeal with light coffee, ground, and dark chocolate to it. I think I smell vanilla, and I hope I get to taste it.
First sip is a reminder of how similar (to my taste) imperial stouts are to oatmeal stouts. The earth is strong, and the toasted oats are pretty tamped down on this beer. Bitterness is really the defining characteristic of the sip, that's for certain. It is bitter to the point that I want to taste the hops that generated the bitterness, but I don't even detect pine in here.
Tip-in is strangely smooth and almost syrupy with sweet oats covered in brown sugar and an almost cherry droplet stuck inside. The middle becomes oddly dry with earth and toasted oats losing the sweetness and a light vanilla poking over top of it. The finish is a move into bitterness with earth and toasted oats hanging on for the trail off, but things get very dry at this point.
Bottom Line: Not bad, but it's a bit unfocused.
2.75/5
