Buckerfields Swans Oatmeal Stout

Bomber thanks to CapFlu. Poured deep brown with an explosive cap of creamy tan head. The aroma picked up lots of dusty dark and milk chocolates with just the faintest grassy hoppage and dark fruits in the background. The flavor had well-roasted, almost burnt chocolates, coffee grounds, and some milky sour notes at the core with dry-roasted coffee bitterness and a bit of detergent at the back. The carbonation was excessive, and filled the mouth rapidly.. got in the way of the flavor progression.. sourness perhaps wasn’t supposed to be there that much, but it didn’t get in the way. Drinkable, but not very good.

Pours a dark brown color with a ring of beige lace. Aroma of butter, chocolate and roasted malt, the butter is quite disturbing. Flavor of butter, roasted malt and chocolate with a mild bitter finish. The butter, while being present in the flavor. has a less disturbing effect than in the aroma.

on hand pump-pours a tan head and black color with ruby red highlights. Aroma is dark malt-molasses, dark fruit. Taste is dark malt-sweet molasses/oatmeal, roasty, dark fruit, slight sharpness. Mild carbonation.

When I tried this at a local beer festival years ago it was one of the best offerings. It was creamy and smooth. Rich but not full-bodied if that makes sense. However, I have not tried it in years and will re-rate after visiting the brewpub in Victoria.

7/14/07 On draught at the brewery. Aroma is roast malt forward with chocolate and dark dried fruit. Appearance is dark brown, thin looking, with NO HEAD. Flavor is very thin with some black patent bittering mixed with roast, slightly sour, light caramel and alcohol. Kind of strange for a 5.4% beer. Mouthfeel is medium bodied, warm, with no carb texture and a dry finish. Overall, this is a big let down from the aroma; just too thin and the weird alcoholic character doesn’t make this pleasant.

Sparse chocolate and nutty aroma. Coffee and choco flavour. Thin body and dry finish.

Pacific Northwest Vacation 2007

8/24/2007: Swans Oatmeal Stout is dark brown and reminds me of liquid milk chocolate. It has a a large and long-lasting tan head. The creamy aroma is lacking, but the fnutty and dry roasty malt flavor make up for it a little bit. The flavor also has a dusting of dark or unsweetened chocolate/cocoa powder and some watery oatmeal tones. The body of this beer is a real let down since it is only medium-light to medium. That’s way too light for a stout! This beer drank more like a dark lager than an oatmeal stout. It was just too light and not enough body for me to take it seriously as a stout.

Draught sample at Swans Brewpub in Victoria, BC, Canada. Rating #24 for this beer...

Sample at the Hotel. Very dark mahogany. No head, flat looking. Aromatic; alcohol and nuts. Smells like a good brown. Oily coffee flavour. Strong espresso. Plain. Lots of alcohol in the body and a tingle in my nose.