Bristol Winter Warlock Oatmeal Stout

Brewed by Bristol Brewing Company
Style: Sweet Stout
Colorado Springs, Colorado USA

12 oz. bottle from Beerand Blues2. as it should be, a very dark pour with a tan head. aroma is of nice roasted malts. a very pleasant flavor of the roasted malts, some cocoa and a bit of bitterness on the tail end. a very nice sweet stout.

12oz bottle bottled in the 5th week of October. (That would make this a Halloween Winter Warlock as the only day in the 5th week of Oct. last year was the 31st). Pours to a brown head with spotted lacing. The body is really dark brown and is opaque, however, I can make out whitish specs of particles in the body. The aroma is coffee, raisins, and peppermint and/or spearmint. It kinda has that numbing aroma like when you smell peppermint oil. The flavor initially hits with a smooth milk chocolate that finishes out with an oatmeal, light coffee, and minty flavor. The palate has a lively carbonation to it but comes of like thick water more than creamy milk. This is good, but there are many better sweet stouts I like better.

Bottled. Poured a deep brown with a tall, long-lived cap of deep toffee head... lots of sediment suspended in there. Nose was of medium-heavily roasted cocoa and coffee with some woodsy aspects to it. Flavor was heavy on the roasted espresso with chalky cocoa and leafy hoppage. Medium-bodied and quick across the palate... leaving a trail of moderate bitterness and roasty espresso in its wake. Tasty brew.

Every time I go to my favorite liquor emporium I make a point to buy a wide range of beer styles rather than investing heavily in a single type. Being new I need try as many tastes as possible,in order to better compare and contrast. I’m also on the hunt for a good, casual beer to drink - one that’s not so complex that I get migraines from thinking about it, one cheap enough that I don’t have take a second mortgage to afford it, and one casual enough that I can really relax and enjoy it. And I may have found just such a beer, for the winter at least. Bristol Brewery, next to my college, serves up a simple but delicious beer named Winter Warlock. I’d label the figure on the label a lazy eyed reject from the Academy of Elemental Magicks, but the beer he associates with deserves a little more praise. The opaquely dark and brown color of this beer fits the taste nicely, satisfying the visual appearance of the Warlock’s delicious chocolate, molasses, coffee and toasted bread medley. Right before I had this beer I went to Bristol Brewery to pick up a growler of Laughing Lab for an end of the week celebration. The building had a distinctive smell, but I couldn’t quite describe it. If pressed I’d call it a mix of dark honey and mashed grass. Well, I later found it was the smell of the Winter Warlock, probably in full production with winter setting in. Anyway, it’s a delicious beer, but one dimensional. The first one and a half seconds is a purely sweet sensation; the frozen air, cold and silent. Then comes the bitter qualities of the stout, where the Warlock sweeps his robed arm and pushes the spears of frigid air around and through the evergreens and into your palate.

bottle. black with thin tan head. big sour malts, sugar, oak, suprising alcohol, coffee and chocolate in the aroma. smooth. oatmeal, chocolate. coffee grain in a bitter finish. nice brew from Bristol.

12oz bottle-A dark body with a quick dissipating head and an aroma of roasted malt and coffee. Taste of coffee and roasted malt. Great tasting stout.

A freind of mine likes this so much he brought a few cases back from a trip to see family in Colorado. I think he picked it up straight from the brewery. Pours very dark with lots of floaties, a midsized tan head leaving plenty of lace. Aroma is very nice with a pronounced bourbon character, a little bit of chocolate and a mild rasin like aroma. Flavor is very nice, creamy and coffee like plenty of sweetness blanaced with a strong roasty character. Good fruity notes accompany a very earthy flavor. I like this very much.

Smoky molasses and burnt caramel coffee. Black/brown color with a frothy deep tan head. Dark bittersweet chocolate sweetness with some burnt toast, nicely balanced. Silky medium to full body, mild carbonation, rich long lasting roasted coffee finish. Very good Stout. The oatmeal softens some of the tannins resulting in a well balanced and tasty brew