Southern Tier Oat

Bottle. Pours a night black with a small brown head. Amazing sweet smells, almost candy-like, maybe black licorice. Very sweet entry, oat flavors come in late, followed my some nice molasses and black licorice, then some spicy hops. Almost creamy mouthfeel. Long bitter and alcohol on the finish. Fantastic!

black pour with nice tan head. somewhat muted aroma for the style, but a fantastic oat chocolate taste with terrific balance.

2008. Near black pour, dark cream head lingers momentarily. Roasted malt, grain and coffee aromas. Nice chewy full body. Roasted malts and coffee with chocolate hints, microscopic toffee. Hops are a little more pronounced than I would like. A little bitter in the finish but clean. I could see some aging smoothing this out a bit and bringing out some more sweetness. Pretty straight forward, higher octane oatmeal stout. The Java is better, but this is pretty good as well.

I’m surprised at the rating for this. It just didn’t do it for me. Great color and appearance. Strong alcohol in the nose. Some vanilla and nut, like flavoring to a coffee, with a strong chocolate. But the hops...man...what a way to ruin a good stout. It has a sharpness here that’s just not suiting me. I tried it as a stout float with some good vanilla ice cream and that made it worse; the sweet ice cream only accentuated the bitterness. Reasonable thick for an impy but it didn’t jump out at me as special.

Pours a rich black color with medium tan head. Aroma is rich chocolate, light fruit, anise, oatmeal and mild coffee. Taste is rich chocolate, light hops, light coffee and oatmeal. Mouthfeel is nice and oily with mild carbonation. Alcohol is well hidden. A solid impy.

Pours pitch black with a medium mocha head that fades rather quickly, leaving a little bit of lacing. Aroma is heavy on anise, molasses, and caramel or burnt sugars. For such high alcohol, the taste is rather smooth with little bite. I was expecting more oatmeal but I think it was more added to counteract some of the harshness of the brew. Taste is very sugary, black licorice, with hints of coffee/chocolate.

Fall 2008 22 oz bottle pours like engine oil, black, thick, with some short lived brown tight head and no lace. The aroma is like port, oats, caramel coffee, and molasses. The flavor is surprising mellow for such a behemoth. Clearly there is chocolate, dark fruits, a lingering coffee note, minor white pepper, and hops in the sense that if they weren’t there - this would taste like syrup. The palate wins hands down as it is rich and silky, with some minor carbonation that can still sparkle through. Overall, damn fine stout!

Rich aroma of grapes, roasted malt, and caramelized sugars. Flavors are dark chocolate and espresso over roasted malt and hops. Bitter duration, fairly creamy, charcoal flavors, smoke, some molasses, and cognac. Dark reddish brown.