Sless' Oatmeal Stout

Rating: positive




This claims to be a gold medal winner and voted best stout in the world. It's good, but nowhere near THAT good. Not as many rich coffee/chocolate tastes as I like in an oatmeal stout. If my memory serves me correctly, Goose Island is better, and what I think was either Shanandoah or maybe blue ridge was my all-time pick for this category. Still, solid stout. Only real complaint is that it's not as great as it boasts.

Origin: USA (California)

Brooklyn Brewery Dark Chocolate Stout

Rating: neutral

Pitch black, even when held to the light. It's bubbly and fairly hoppy, carbonated (not nitrogen like the Youngs double chocolate stout). Wouldn't have known it was chocolate anything if the label hadn't said so.

Not crazy about it, more forgettable than anything.

Origin: USA (New York)

Samuel Smith Imperial Stout

Rating: neutral

Dark and bubbly. Main complaints are bitterness and oily mouth feel.

Origin: England

Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout

Rating: neutral

Imperial stouts are not a style I typically enjoy, so this review is probably biased. Too bitter, somehow oily in texture. Dark and highly carbonated. 9% ABV, but if you just want to get buzzed there are far cheaper and more enjoyable ways of doing it. It's still drinkable, but barely.

Origin: USA (California)

St. Peters Cream Stout

Rating: neutral

I'm not sure what I thought a cream stout was going to be, maybe Irish dry stouts have shaped my opinion too heavily. I did not enjoy this. It's dark in the glass, fairly carbonated, and disappointingly has none of the coffee, chocolate, vanilla, carmel, or other mild flavors I was hoping for, and that many other stouts have. This was not as good as, say, Guinness extra stout, while being roughly the same style in my opinion.

Origin: England

Ommegang chocolate indulgence

Rating: negative

This claimed to be a belgian-style chocolate stout. I was curious but dubious, as this describes two very different styles of beer. The result was severe disappointment. It's neither a good belgian, nor a good stout, nor even a good beer on its own merit. I actually considered not finishing my glass.

Like the Youngs, this uses both chocolate malt AND actual chocolate. It's a waste of both.

Origin: USA (new york)

Young's double chocolate stout

Rating: positive

Excellent dry stout, nitrogen widget in the can actually makes this one better in the can than the bottle. Like other nitrogen dry stouts (guinness, murphys) it has the cascading foam effect when poured in a glass. Feel is extremely smooth and thick, taste is slightly sweet and smoky with an actually noticeable aftertaste of chocolate. Possibly my favorite beer.

Drinking it cold doesn't just lessen the intensity of the flavor like with most beers. It actually changes it to taste less like beer and more like chocolate. Try it at several temperatures to find the perfect one.

Origin: England

Samuel Smith the celebrated oatmeal stout

Rating: positive

It's a dark, smooth -tasting oatmeal stout. One of the better examples of the style. Not too bubbly, not overly sweet. I enjoy it most served cool but not ice cold, to better appreciate the flavor.

Origin: England