Whitstable Oyster Stout
Whitstable Brewery

 

Pours one finger head over black body. Spotty lace.
Loads of choc on nose, less so on palate.
Smooth roast malts with little bitterness make for easy drinking.
Solid stuff at only 4.5%

 

 

 

 

A - jet black body with a small tan head, with nice lacing.
S - lightly minerally aroma, dark, malty cocoa.
T - Very mellow, not at all bitter, but none too sweet. The mineral saltyness of the oysters is apparent.
M - light bodied, mild carbonation. Kind of limp.
D - I am not really enthusiastic about finishing this beer, so it cant be that good.

The second time to taste this beer, and this time it's the bottle-conditioned version. Coming in a 330ml long-neck brown bottle, BBE 03/07, served cool in a half-pint jug.

A: pitch-black, a thick, frothy tan head very slowly settles, on top of lively carbonation. Looking very good indeed.
S: underlying, smooth roasty malts, lots of cocoa powder and roast-walnut's aromatic note... the fruity edge is quite understated, but lends a sour-sweet date-like note to the overall malty theme. Overall, the aroma is solid and full-bodied.
T: quite similar to the aroma--fluffy-textured dark maltiness upfront, followed by roast walnuts and un-sweet edge of chocolates; slightly sour edge of roast barleys joins the crowd at the back, towards a mildly herbal, salty, and bitter finish, plus a lovely dryish, woody touch hidden deeply down the sides of the tongue.
M&D: the mouthfeel is slightly thinner than ideal, esp. when in contrast with the healthily balanced palate. Overall this is a dryish-sweet stout with quality; alas, the thin-ish body doesn't score too well, esp. that I've tried the better, cask-version of the same beer.

Barely opaque mahogany with garnet edges. The light brown cap is one of the worst I've seen in quite some time. It isn't so much foam as a collection of large bubbles that pop-pop-pop so rapidly that it doesn't appear as if there's any solidity to the head at all. The bursting slows down eventually and a skimpy one finger persists. The glass is clean.

The nose is decent for what will probably turn out to be a not-very-stout stout. Lightly roasted malt greets my nose, as do scents of cocoa and weak coffee. It's simple, straightforward and lacking in nostril-filling power.

A not-very-stout stout is right. The body is much closer to a porter than to the stated style. In fact, it's exactly like a porter; and a light one at that. There's no hint of fullness or creaminess in the mouth, just a shockingly light flavor delivery system that vanishes into thin air once its job is done. I would normally mark a stout down severly for such a mouthfeel, but it's not too bothersome in this case because...

... there's a good bit of flavor to be had. Not a huge amount (this is not a big beer in any way, shape or form), but enough. Just ignore the stated style and all will be well. Cocoa and iced coffee are still out in front, with very little else trailing behind.

I wouldn't recommend drinking WOS alongside oysters, or any other food, since its rather subtle flavor is likely to run away and hide. Best to enjoy it solo. The beer isn't sweet in the least and actually resembles an Irish dry stout more than anything else. It's also a tad sour and the finish is as clean and dry as it is abbreviated.

Whitstable Oyster Stout isn't exceptional beer by any measure one wishes to employ, but it's so gentle, so unassuming and so gosh darn likeable that I find myself being won over in spite of myself. Having said that, heed my scores rather than my words if you're contemplating a purchase.