Millstream Brewing - Back Road Stout

Tonight I'm drinking Back Road Stout from Millstream Brewing in Amana, Iowa.  Last week, Steve reviewed their Weizenbock, which turned out to be a winner.  Back Road Stout is another gift brew that Steve brought back from the great state of Iowa.  It's an oatmeal stout with a grain bill that includes a whopping 10% oatmeal - that means this will likely have a thick, creamy texture.  By the way, before March 2010, Iowa brewers weren't allowed to brew beers over 5% alcohol....but this ridiculous law was reversed and now brewers can produce beers up to 12%.  This is Millstream's first high gravity beer (at 6.7%) since this silly legislation was corrected.

Bottled in November 2011.  The beer is dark brownish black, with a thin layer of dark tan head that recedes quickly.  The smell is robust - chocolate roast, coffee, caramel/toffee sweetness, and most of all, it's NUTTY.  The flavor starts off with strong roasty malts, bitter dark chocolate.  Thick and chewy.  Baking chocolate, more sweetness, then comes some more intense coffee flavors.  Slightly burnt barley also comes in towards the end.  Did I mention this beer is thick and chewy?

Overall Rating:  Great oatmeal stout!  Sweetness prevails throughout, but the slight bitterness and alcohol warmth in the background keep things balanced.  This would make a good dessert beer.  A-

Big Sky Brewing - Slow Elk Oatmeal Stout

First off, I'd like to comment on the Iowa State win over Oklahoma State on Friday night.....WOW!  Talk about a huge upset!  What a way to finish up the season at home, with a win over the #2 ranked team in the country.  It was one of the most exciting ISU football games in history, and it's wreaking havoc in the BCS.  Paul Rhodes is a phenomenal coach - check out his locker room speech after the game - who wouldn't get behind this guy?!  He's so much better than that asshole Gene Chizik.  Great job Iowa State.

Tonight I'll be drinking Slow Elk Oatmeal Stout from Big Sky Brewing in Missoula, Montana.  This is a limited release brew available only in September and October.  You may remember back in March, I reviewed another limited release Big Sky brew called Cowboy Coffee Porter, which turned out to be coffee-infused blah.  Slow Elk features a strange, mutant hybrid cow-elk on the label.   The website provides an explanation, "Happens every year; people shootin' cows.  That's how the Slow Elk got it's name.  Enjoy the creamy texture, great malt complexity and the unequaled smoothness of this Northern Rockies Oatmeal Stout.  Stock your fridge the easy way and keep an ear open for the unmistakable bugle of the slow elk....Mooo!"  So...I don't get it.  Do people in Montana call cows 'slow elk'?  According to the google-brain, slow elk is a southern term for a domestic cow that is shot from the roadside and butchered in the field.  A form of domestic cow poaching.....weird!

This stout is a 5.4% alcohol.  It's a black color, clear and some light is able to get through.  About 2 inches of tan head form after the pour, with decent retention.  The aroma is subdued with oats, cocoa powder, and a hint of black licorice.  Not bad.  The first drink is certainly smooth and silky, as expected from the style.  Sweeter than I expected, with a mild dark/milk chocolate flavor, molasses, and a light amount of roasted malts.  Subtle hints of nuts, pistachios.  Then some gritty, light coffee grinds come in.  The finish leaves a soft astringency lingering, difficult to describe, not good but not overwhelming either.  The mouthfeel is light for the style, with low carbonation...certainly a little thinner than I would like.

Overall Rating:  This was a mediocre oatmeal stout.  Very light and drinkable, but also fairly bland.  I'll finish the bottle, but you won't see me purchasing it ever again.  C-

Lake Superior - Sir Duluth Oatmeal Stout

Tonight I'm going to review a beer from Lake Superior Brewing Company, based up in chilly Duluth, MN.  Lake Superior Brewing began back in the early 1990's, when scientist Bob Dromeshauser lost his job and decided to pursue his brewing passion instead.  A solid decision, to be sure!  They've grown from humble home-brewing beginnings to what they are today - the only commercially available microbrewery in Northland Minnesota.  Sir Duluth Oatmeal Stout is a year-round offering that won Gold Medal at the 2002 World Beer Championships.  This is the first Lake Superior brew we've reviewed, so let's get to it!

The beer is black-brown with a thin layer of tan head on top that falls away quickly.  The aroma is of ground black coffee, cocoa, and powdered cream.  Also some charred wood and a faint nuttiness.  The flavor starts off with a strong layer of roasted malts, with coffee and dark chocolate taking center stage.  Bitter cocoa powder, and a hint of smoked wood also come through.  Then...a wave of metallic flavor.  It's like the beer morphed into a mouthful of pennies.  Not pleasant, I can't get past it.  The texture isn't quite where it should be for an oatmeal stout either - a bit thin and lacks the creamyness I was hoping for.   

Overall Rating:  This beer had some positive characteristics, and I wanted to support my local brewery and like it....but ultimately it was too thin and the metallic flavor invaded and ruined it for me.  Not a fan of this one.  D+

Samuel Smiths - Oatmeal Stout

Tonights review is of a winter time classic.  So why review it in the middle of summer?  Because its one of the few beers that's enjoyable year round.  In cold weather, it warms and comforts the body.  During warm weather, its refreshing and full of roasty goodness.

We reviewed one of Sam Smiths tasty concoctions back at the beginning of the year.  The Winter Welcome Ale scored highly with me.  The dedication this brewery has to their craft is second to none.  They are one of the few, if not the only, major brewery that still uses Yorkshire squares to ferment their beer.  Simply put, these stone, open air fermentation vessels require a lot of attention throughout the fermentation process.  But the result is a beer that is effervescent and full of unique flavor.  More information on the process and its history can be found here.

Samuel Smiths Oatmeal Stout is one of the most well known brews they produce.  The oatmeal stout style was originally marketed towards lactating mothers back in the 1800s because of its nutritional benefits.  Not the first demographic I would have thought of when it comes to beer marketing... but I suppose perceptions surrounding beer in the 1800s were a bit different compared to todays view on the common beer drinker as a late 20s, early 30s scruffy white male who lives in a house made out of Bud Light.

Deep opaque black with a light tan foam, this stout already has me thinking 'creamy'.  There isn't a powerful aroma right away.  But after letting it warm you can easily find an inviting subtle roast with hints of bittersweet chocolate.  The first thing you will notice is the texture.  Its silky smooth, attributable to the oats and fermentation process.  Bittersweet chocolate is balanced by a strong roast presence.  Earthy undertones from either the yeast or hops help to blend the sweet and roasty together into a smooth, dry finish.

Overall - No doubt about it, easily one of my favorite oatmeal stouts, if not stout in general.  Smooth, roasty, full body, and dangerously drinkable.  The four pack these come in could be gone in an evening without realizing it.  If you havent tried anything from Samuel Smiths yet, try this one first.  Its definitely #winning in my book.

New Holland - The Poet Oatmeal Stout

Today was a long day at work....last night returned home from a bachelor party trip to Las Vegas....so as you can imagine, it's a bit difficult to re-acclimate to normal human life.  That is a crazy town full of crazy people - definitely the best people-watching town out there.  I had a chance to try Stone Ruination IPA and Squatter's Hop Rising IPA, both phenomenal brews that aren't available in MN.  That was definitely a highlight of the trip for me ; ).

This Oatmeal Stout is brewed by New Holland Brewing, located in Holland, Michigan.  After fumbling my way through their clunky website, I was finally able to find a description of this brew.  I have to say, that website needs a serious overhaul - it's a disaster.  Anyway, The Poet is a year-round offering that comes in at 5.2%ABV.

The label depicts a crow in front of a full moon - cool design for an oatmeal stout.  I think the legend goes, that every time a crow caws, someone in the world has died.  I heard that in a movie...so it must be true.  This beer is nearly pitch black with a nice layer of sticky tan head - good retention.  The aroma is creamy coffee, burnt wood, and a hint of sweet chocolate.  The drink starts off with a crisp dark chocolate roasty flavor, along with some burnt wood and coffee grinds.  Very mild hop bitterness in the middle, and the finish is creamy and smooth.  The mouthfeel is a tad light for a stout, but nothing to complain about.

Overall Rating:  (4.2 out of 6.0)  This was an easy-drinking Oatmeal Stout.  The body was a little thin, but the flavors were nice and I didn't have any problem finishing this glass.  Nice winter session brew.

Breckenridge Oatmeal Stout

Well, it's snowing again.  It's been a cruel and relentless winter so far in MN - I feel like I'm digging myself out of the driveway every F'ing day.  But, today is Friday so I'm going to pretend it's not snowing, and pretend I don't need to shovel....ignorance is bliss.  TGIF, and cheers!

Tonight's beer of choice is a 12oz bottle of Breckenridge Brewery's Oatmeal Stout.  Beer geeks, this brew registers at 4.95%, 32 IBUs, and is brewed with Pale, Caramel, Chocolate malts, and black oat flakes, and hopped with Chinook and Perle. 

Pours an almost shiny black color, no light gets through this one, and it leaves a small amount of tan head.  The nose is really nice - a combination of chocolate malts, coffee, and an almost nutty sweet malt....it actually smells creamy. 

First sip is...you guessed it.  Creamy.  There are some roasted chocolate malts, but not nearly as prominent as I expected after smelling the beer.  There are some bitter notes in the middle, and a malty sweet, warm finish.  The alcohol content is pretty low on this one, and doesn't show up in the flavor profile at all.  I did also notice a smoked wood flavor.  The texture is fantastic - creamy, smooth, with mild carbonation. 

Overall Rating:  (3.2 out of 6.0)  In general I wasn't all that impressed with this brew.  It wasn't bad, but it didn't have the bold flavor that I really expected after smelling it... I thought it was a bit lacking in flavor, especially compared to some of the other examples in this category (Bell's, Samuel Smith's, etc.).  The smell was great, the nose was great, and the taste was just OK.

**Side Note - the flavors did improve after I let this sit for a while and warm up.  I'll have to revisit this one again in the future.