Erie Brewing Drakes Crude Oatmeal Stout

12oz Bottle - at the High Street Pub - Bellefonte, PA. Aroma is a nice salt and oatmeal cookie figure, softened with some balsa wood and light brown sugar. Quiet. Pours a deep brown-black, with a quickly fading chocolate milk foam. Flavor is rich, dense, chewy oatmeal with nice oatmeal character, backed with a nip of salt, sugar, and roast (generic). Fresh and bright. Crisp. Alcohols are a little high and forward for me. Northern Brewer hop glow provides nice balance on the backend. Rounded, clean, forward with oatmeal flavor. A bit of vanilla sugar. Nice.

12oz btl. pours slick black with a nice tan head that looks a little looser than i would have expected. aroma is roasted coffee and wood. light smoke and cream on the front, followed by sweet oat, coffee and cream on the back. very loose, light mouth-feel, and easy finish. my first thought is that as an oatmeal stout this one is not what i like. BUT one of the things i like about erie brewing, is that they try to take people into and everyday exploration of beers that they normally wouldn’t drink. i think its a really nice bridge beer taking people out of their happy "fizzy yellow" box and showing them something different to look at and drink.

bottle from Capone’s -

Pours silky black, with a medium tan head that’s not very tall, but coalesces nicely around the glass. Aroma roasted coffee, molasses and some smoky woodiness. Upfront flavor is smoky! Charred wood and smoke, followed by roasted malts. Unfortunately, for me, the failing point is a lack of hops at the end to cleanse the taste buds. As it is now, that smoky phenolic flavor lingers far far too long. I also don’t get any of the mouth feel of an oatmeal stout either - not sure why they’re marketing it as such. I’d add some bittering hops and maybe some dry hops, save the oatmeal for a different batch and make this a smoked stout / specialty beer.

On tap at Six ’N Save. Pours a dark black with a thick foamy light brown head. A really deep chocolatey coffee aroma with some caramel and molasses. Dark sweet chocolate flavor with a lot of burnt coffee and a little bit of toffee as well. A decent bit of complexity, but a little bit sweet for my taste... kind of like Atwater Block Vanilla Java. Kind of watery for a stout as well. A nice bittersweet roasty finish.

Bottle purchased at Kazansky’s in Squirrel Hill, Pittsburgh. I love Kazansky’s. If you live in Pittsburgh and you want to buy cheap bottles, head over there. Their selection isn’t huge, but they get new stuff in from time to time.

Pours pitch tar, thin tan head. Aroma is smoke, molasses, pine, anise: smells oily. Flavor is smoke, malt, chocolate, pine, anise. Bitter finish. Body is not as dense as I expected. I would have preferred something a bit more substantial.

Opens with a loud hiss...but not a gusher....just a bit overcarbonated. Pours a huge bubbly/foamy light tan head that left some lacing. Color was a deep brown with lots of ruby highlights. Aroma of roasted malts, coffee, dark chocolate, Flavor of roasted malts, dark chocolate, coffee grinds, some oats and lactose. Too much carbonation.

Dark brown with a medium head. Aroma is roasty, burnt, and has some heavy dark chocolate. Flavor is pretty harsh - roughly burnt dark chocolate and overly roasty malt. Not too good.

12 oz bottle, KSBF 2007. Poured a dark brown body under an excessively large fizzy brown head that retained forever due to the very vigorous carbonation level. The nose is heavily roasted, almost burnt malt with some day old coffee, and chalky yeast. The flavor is a little thin and full of burnt ashy malt and a light lactose note that seems out of place even for a Sweet Stout. Mouthfeel is very over carbonated, it just foams up instantly as it hits the tongue. After the carb dies down when held in the mouth, the result is on the slightly thinner side with a watery texture. Overall, this was another poor offering from Erie. At least I got this at a festival instead of buying it!