Great Lakes Brewing Chocolate Oatmeal Stout

Formerly brewed at Great Lakes Brewing (Ontario)
Style: Sweet Stout
Etobicoke, Canada

Serve in English pint, Shaker

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Deep black pour with a thin dark brown head. The aroma is really rich and chocolatey. Loads of rich bittersweet chocolate and sweet dark malt. There is almost a kiss of smoke as well. Soft palate and a lot of richness.

Bottle thanks to Alex, drank from a Cigar City snifter... Black body with a medium tan head, thick ring, ok lacing... The aroma and taste are similar and both exceedingly generic. Vanilla is the worst offender of them, extract and chemical. Coffee is next offender, then I get some caramel too. This isn’t terrible, semi drinkable, not nothing I would come back for.

A: Pours very dark brown, almost black, with a large tan head. S: Intensely roasty with a bit of char to it. Bitter dark chocolate on the nose and definitely some vanilla, quite a lot of vanilla, actually. Mild coffee notes and lots of caramel sweetness. T: The flavor isn’t offensive, but it’s not necessarily good either. Intense roast and char with tons of sweet vanilla, but it’s kind of a fake vanilla flavor. Some hints of dark, bitter chocolate. M: Medium in body with a medium carbonation. O: Not terribly impressed with this. My few ounces of this was plenty.

650 ml Project X bottle from brewery. Pours a dark, motor oil (virtual) black with above average-sized, moderately lacey brown head. Lots of cocoa in aroma with a light roastiness and sweet malt. Taste is quite chocolatey giving off both sweet and moderately bitter notes, some fruity sweetness. Some booziness in finish (despite modest ABV). Quite rich in body. Impressive.

Cask sample at Volo Cask Days 2008. Dark brown, thin tan head, still body. Aroma of mild roast malt and chocolate syrup. Body is too light for my taste in stout, although I find that to be common in cask versions. Flavour is nice, with a pleasant chocolate character and touches of coffee and smoke.

UPDATED: FEB 13, 2011 [1829-20081026] Cask. Sweet heavy milk mocha chocolate and dry wood aroma. Black brown body with a quick head. Slight chemical milk chocolate and mild cocoa mocha flavour. Medium-full body. Quite good but the chemical properties are not endearing. (7/3/6/3/14) 3.3
(@ Bar Volo; Toronto, ON)

[3590B-20110210] Cask. Fragrant sweet roast chocolate malt aroma hints at Tootsie Roll. Black body with long-lasting foamy tan bubbles. Roasted coffee-infused Tootsie Roll chocolatey malt flavour. Full body. Smells better than it tastes, kinda of a let-down after that aroma but still quite good. (9/3+/7/4/15) 3.8
(Project X @ brewery, Toronto, ON)

Cask. At Volo Cask Days 2008. Slick-looking oily black pour, with a small head. Aroma of licorice, chocolate liqueur and leather - all over the map, but all things that appeal to my nose. The taste had more of the leather, seemed a little wan, but there was a saving note of mild peat as it warmed up. Thin-bodied, but silky and soft, with a long, somewhat boring linger of cocoa powder. I liked it, but they need to up the roast some and tone down the chocolate.

volo cask days- Good job John!!! very very black, no head and not much carbonation, nose is of coco powder. flavor reminds me of a non carbonated coc-loco. well done nice flavor

UPDATED: FEB 13, 2011 2011-02-10. Black body with a modest brown head. Cocoa in the aroma, , dusty cocoa and Ovaltine like character. Sweet dark malt. 7+ Sweet malt in the core of the flavour, finishes with semi-strong flavour of cocoa and sweet malt that lingers. 7+ Smooth average plus to medium bodied palate. Seems richer and more full all around than the previous sample. This batch was infused with Applewood Chocolate Raspberry Port. 7+/4/7+/3+/15 - 3.6 Cask at the brewery

2008-10-26. Black headless body. (3+) Mild aroma, sweet cocoa/chocolate syrup notes along with something else. Sweet malt is muted. (6+) Flavour is mild lightly muddled. Same cocoa/syrup character as in the aroma, very mild chocolate. (6+) Average plus palate could definitely be weightier, and needs more carbonation as its fairly flat. Okay, decent experiment needs a bit more to it and a bit more balance overall. 6/3/6/3/13 - 3.1 Cask at Volo, Toronto

On cask at Volo Cask Days extended version 2008. Pours black, with initially soapy bubbles. Aroma is pure American sweet chocolate. The mouthfeel is below average and a bit astringent, the cask is tapped after sitting for one and a half weeks. There is some bitterness coming through in the finish. Fairly basic for the style.