Breckenridge Oatmeal Stout

Brewed by Breckenridge Brewery
Style: Stout
Denver, Colorado USA

12 oz. bottle. Pour a deep, dark black with a light-brown head that diminishes quickly. Nice lacing. Aroma is sweet coffee and chocolate. Flavor is a dry, roasty coffee with a bitter, cocoa-like chocolaty undertone. The body is medium, almost creamy, with very light carbonation. Long, dry finish.

On tap at the Denver location, dark brown color, with a tan-colored head, light roasty, oatmeal chocolatey nose, with some mild dark coffee, espresso accents, hint of mocha in the aroma follows through on a medium-bodied palate with a mild roasty, chocolate malt, oatmeal character, with some toasty caramel, dark chocolate praline accents, a grainy roastiness, with some vanilla, mochaish flavors, hint of chocolatey cookie dough, leading towards a roasty, leafy hop bitterness finish.

Sampled at the stout tasting at Blacklick Wine & Spirits on 10/23/08. Pours almost black with no head. Aroma is roasty coffee with some sweetness. Flavor is creamy sweet up front, finishes with roasty coffee and some chocolate. Could use more alcohol, but a fine stout overall.

Tap @ Tacomac, Johnscreek. Pours dark black. Long lasting brown head. Aroma of roasted grain, some hop. Flavor of deeply roasted grain, espresso. Kinda chewy, like a bowl of oatmeal, coffee porage.

Pours crude oil black with a thin cappuccino head, that has oddly very shiny bubbles, and leaves decent lacing. Aroma is roast malt, chocolate, straw, coffee and bitter hops. Flavor is chocolate, coffee, bitter hops, oats, fresh bay leaves, chocolate chip cookies and a little alcohol. Finish is bitter hops and a little sweetness for a bit, strong coffee and dark chocolate linger forever, a crisp dry finish for a semi sweet stout. Body is medium thick and a little oily but not too sticky. Carbonation is a little heavy, but it helps the finish, so it’s forgiveable.

This one pours a thick, oily, blackness with barely any head. It smells of coffee and alcohol, but the flavor is much, much more. I sense some oatmeal and raison mixed in with coffee and chocolate, and the chocolatey coffee seems to linger the longest after the finish. It feels medium-bodied and lowly carbonated in the mouth and seems pretty drinkable despite the heaviness of this brew. Overall a pretty delicious oatmeal stout that I would definitely recommend.

The main drawback was aftertaste. It’s like I am drinking a fantastic dark stout and then after enjoying a semi-dry finish, it’s like I popped a piece of metal in my mouth. Ok, it’s not that bad, but the aftertaste needs some refinement. Otherwise, it’s fabulous.

Man, I think I might have gotten a bad bottle.... Generally speaking I tend to trust Breckenridge beers, but this had some really funky vegetable aromas and flavors. These of course did not mix well with the other flavors of Oatmeal, chocolate, and nuts. The beer looks fantastic in the glass with a big tan head and tons of lace. But something just was not quite right here.