Stone 12th Anniversary Bitter Chocolate Oatmeal Stout

Formerly brewed at Stone Brewing Co.
Style: Imperial Stout
Escondido, California USA

Pours an opaque, dense chocolate brown with tan colored head. Aroma is malt with anise seed and grain/earthy notes. Flavor has a lot of coffee/espresso notes and the bitterness of unsweetened cacao. Dark roasted malts and vanilla extract. Body is light yet very creamy with mild carbonation. Very well down. Beautiful chocolate notes as they are far from over done but present in the flavor.

Draft. Gravity Head 2009 "The Liver Olympics." Opaque black body with an enticing, frothy, brown head that slowly recedes. Malty aroma of roasted malts, chocolate, coffee with notes of alcohol and a hint of plastic, but not enough to be off-putting. The flavor is moderately to heavily sweet and moderately bitter, especially in the finish where it turns heavily bitter. It leaves tastes of bitter coffee and chocolate (more bitter than chocolate) and burnt malts and, finally some plastic. Medium to full body with a slick texture and lively carbonation. The beer did not wow me, but I did enjoy it.

Tap @ Stone Bistro during the RBSG 2008. Poured black with a copper edge and beige head. Very roasty aroma with some sweet coffee. Roasted malt and dark chocolate flavor. Warming with a medium body.

Midnight brown with a medium tan protectorate. Aroma of dark and roasted malts, bitter chocolate with a mild hop presence. Taste is moderately bitter at first with chocolate, coffee, oatmeal, roasted malts, light black licorice and alcohol. The bitterness of this one overpowers the flavors a little too much. While it was a decent imp to try once, I won’t be running back for more.

Bottle that I got in a mixed case from Beers of Europe, consumed 20-02-09 Pours black with a brown head and is quite busy on the fizziness front. The aroma was initially quite creamy and had some vanilla and then all I got was rusty nail. Taste is undeniably dark, bitter chocolate, its an oily mouth clinger and so bitter. Some cold coffee dregs show but the chocolate and roasty flavours dominate. Strange that the rusty nail aroma is really taking over now. A6 A4 F7 P4 OV13 3.4

A very tasty imperial stout. Nice mix of dark chocolate and coffee. What was unfortunate about this beer is that after getting it all the way from California, from the Stone Brewery, scotch4281 fell asleep with half the beer in his hand and spilled it all over the floor. Ha!

I bought a few bombers last summer of 12th Anniversary and decided to sample one outside on a February afternoon being warmed by a chiminea. As I sat there sampling the beer and reading the back label, it was a winter day the brewer had in mind when it was brewed. Bitterness eases as my palate adjusts to the full bodied Oatmeal Stout. Dark black coffee appearance, this is a strong beer. Caught a nice little buzz from just one bomber and cellaring a few bottles made for an enjoyable winter afternoon.

Another anniversary offering from Stone which I expected to be good and it was. Obviously black, minimum brown head. It smelled like chocolate, tasted like dark bitter chocolate, fruit, and a strong alcohol component which was a little strong (and the reason I didn;t give a higher score for taste). It seems like most oatmeal stouts feel silky and this one does as well. Serving type: bottle Reviewed on: 07-14-2008 03:52:32