Barney Flats Oatmeal Stout (5.7%)

With the lead up to my birthday, I am using the next few days to get through some of the beers my boss Tim gave me for Chrissy. The first is this Anderson Valley Brewing Company beer from California.

It has been a pretty muggy day here so decided to chill the beer a bit, but think it is a little cold. It poured with some thickness and can definitely sense some body through the oatmeal. The slightly brown head brings with it the dark malt smell and a sort of smokiness, which upon tasting is just the roasted malt leading to a coffee flavour. This coffee prolongs into aftertaste.

I have found recently that an oatmeal stout was exceedingly better on tap than out of the bottle ('duh' I hear you say), so would be interested if this was also true with this beer. I don't personally like this beer much. There is not much in the flavour to intrigue me, and there is not enough body to give it a creamy texture to enjoy (Still, this could be improved through having on tap). As it warms am getting a slight 'imperialness' from the beer in smell and taste, almost like it would have a higher alcohol content than it does, and wonder if this flavour would stand out more on tap to give it a bit more robustness.

Am not sure if my body has just been stripped of water with all the sweating I have done today, or if there is a dryness in the beer coming from the coffee roasted flavour, but there is a furriness on the tongue after drinking this beer.

So overall, intrigued by the potential of this beer, and the body does give it some character, but in bottle form it does little for me.

Cheers,

Beef