Discworld Ales Hix's Darkside
Brentwood Brewing Co. Ltd

 

Coming in a 330ml slim brown bottle, possibly bottle-conditioned or unfiltered at least; BB 03/2014, served mildly-chilled in a straight imperial pint glass. Notes: brewed by the “Unseen University Boathouse Brewery”, this Hix’s Darkside is an “aged oatmeal stout”, according to the beer label.

A: pours a deeply-dark brown colour with reddish hues and bits of yeast sediments swimming around, coming with a 2cm thick khaki frothy head with very good retention.
S: rather sweet overall, coming with chocolate fudge, sour-cream, black cherries, black sugar, black prunes, light stale-ish acidity, very low level of hop aroma, etc. Interestingly, this oatmeal stout somehow reminds me of the Samuel Smith’s version, in that both are light-bodied on the aroma and rather sweet!
T: rather lively, if not sharp, upfront, the swallow is decent with a good body, with plenty of black malts, chocolate malts, roasted nuts, and liquidy black sugar/treacle-ish sweet elements leading the way, always coupled with a pleasant stale-ish and light sour-sweet edge of dark fruits, keeping the bitter elements to the moderate level. Finishing with a light chewy, earthy bite, thanks to the hops I presume, while a light level of diacetyl is also noticeable throughout each sip.
M&O: the carbonation feels a bit lively but somehow goes well with the medium-plus body of flavours, this oatmeal stout tastes better than it comes on the nose, although I really do not have enough experience with oatmeal-accentuated stouts anyway.