Vanilla Bean Stout
Richbrau Brewing Company

Thanks to jcwattsrugger for bringing back a bottle from Virginia...

Pours almost black with some reddish highlights, topped off by a thin off-white head.

The smell is of chocolate/coffee, ashy charcoal (and a vague hint of vanilla bean? - Don't know that I would have caught it had it not been in the name).

The taste is charcoal/ashy - in a traditional English Stout style way - with suggestions of dark chocolate. Some bitterish coffee works with the ash to balance out (and even overtake) the sweetness, especially in the roasty finish. A vague hint of vanilla bean is there in the flavor, but, like in the smell, it might have been by-passed had it not been in the name. All the same, a hint of it is there. Medium-bodied.

Not much more than a decent, standard charcoaly stout. Vanilla bean might have been an interesting twist had it been more prominent.

Sampled at the brewpub in mid-August, this is the oatmeal stout with crushed vanilla beans added at some point. It comes out a slightly cloudy medium brown under a 1/4 finger beige head that fades to collar quickly and leaves no lace. The nose is very strong and distinctly vanilla. Hey, if you order this beer, you want the vanilla - it delivers. The mouth is light and quite prickly. Very strong vanilla notes superimposed on a smokey nut base. Reminiscent of vanilla coffee, there's a bit of dry bitter, but the vanilla dominates long into the aftertaste. You probably need to like the taste of vanilla, but I thought it was very nice.