2011 Symposium Oyster Stout

Brewed by Iron Springs Pub and Brewery
Style: Stout
Fairfax, California USA

Serve in English pint, Shaker, Snifter

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Black color, smooth palate and low carbonation. Malt and coffee aroma. Heavily roasted grain in the flavor, with some light oyster in the aftertaste.

Thanks to Sarah and Jamie for the bottle. Pours a deep dark black with heavy carbonation and huge brown head. Heavy roast and dark chocolate on the nose along with a nice salty hint of the sea. Heavy carbonation mutes the flavors but follows through from the aroma. Not as heavy as I would have expected and there is definitely a briny character in the taste profile. Actually fairly crisp and finishes with a slight roasty bitterness. Good beer but I was somehow expecting a little more.

Tasted on 8/1/11 from a 12oz bottle obtained in a trade, it was a bit of a gusher. Pours thick, oily black with a massive tan head that slowly recedes to some spotty lace and a thin collar. This is the first oyster stout I have ever had where the oyster is actually discernable. There are aromas of chocolate, roasted malt, and coffee, but the overwhelming aroma is of briny and somewhat fishy oyster. The flavor is the same, starting off with the briny and somewhat fishy taste, and then moving on to the lightly sweet chocolate, vanilla, and a hint of coconut, and finishing with bitter dark chocolate and coffee. The body is medium with average, but stinging carbonation and a long bitter coffee, coconut, and briny finish.

Bottle @ home, courtesy of ratman197. Thanks! Pitch black appearance with a brown head that dissipates pretty quickly. Chocolate, creamy, sweet, roasty dark malty nose. Roasty, chocolatey, creamy, tangy oyster, slightly charred stout flavor. Oyster, chocolate, roasty aftertaste. They did a nice job of not overdoing the oysters.

Bottle. Pours a black color with a small tan head. Has a roasted malty chocolate aroma. Dry roasted malty chocoalte flavor with salty hints. Has a dry roasted malty chocolate finish.

Bottled. Poured nice and black with a short, dusty dark beige head. The aroma was just what I wanted in a stout.. heavy black roast paired with some ash and dark chocolates.. just a little brine played well in there.. excellent! The flavor found more chocolates upfront, with heavy black patenty roast on the back-end.. coffee bitterness and some metallic brininess on the edges.. really dried out on the roasty finish. Medium-bodied with low-moderate carbonation on the palate.. not a whole lot of influence from the oysters, but what was there was complementary.. very good feel and flow. I enjoyed this much.

on tap-pours a dissipating brown head and black color. Aroma is dark malt-roasty, sea water. Taste is dark malt-roasty/some clove, some earthy hops. Quick finish.

Pours to a black body with a thin creamy tan head. The flavor is sweet up front, but has a huge deep roasty black patent malt to go with it. Dry and super roasty with an oily nearly pure cocoa bar. The aroma is deep and roasty black patent and chocolate. There is a super light brinyness. The oysters simply add body in this one. Smooth palate that is really drying. Medium velvety body.

My Bottom Line:
This lackadaisical Stout’s svelte body carries roasted and chocolate malt flavors in a very drinkable but mostly forgettable flavor profile.

Further Personal Perceptions:
-A slice of foam covers the darkness.
-The soft carbonation and lean sugars made for easy drinking.
-The flavor profile is too linear for this to be memorable.
-Oysters weren’t really tasted or smelled. Not much added value here, apart from the mention on the label.
-I’ve had much more interesting brews from Iron Springs, Marin and AND Magnolia, so this one was quite disappointing in its lack of personality.

Bottle. Merci Benoit!

Tap, Toronado during CBC week. Good oyster flavor in this beer, but the roast and hops came through too harshly for my tastes. Earthy and a bit mineraly. I wish that I had nabbed a bottle because I imagine that this one had a good chance of settling down and letting those salty, earthy notes combine with more of the dark chocolate lurking beneath the roast.