12-21-12 Imperial Oatmeal Stout
Horseheads Brewing Inc.

 

 

22oz bottle poured into a goblet style glass. Poured a dark brown with a brown/caramel head. Head was about two fingers. Coffee up front, but there is a nutty aftertaste in each sip. Lingers on the tongue and has a slight heaviness to it as it warms. Decent, but the blend/consistency is a little off.

8/15....pours dark black with thick patchy tan foam that slowly dissolves. Roasted oaty nose. Coffee. Burnt bitter coffee espresso flavor. Oats and a little milky. A very hearty experience.

Pours black as night with an ample coffee colored head.

Smells of earth, malt, toast, chocolate, and fig.

Bitter coffee and chocolate up front with a bitter herb punch in the back with lingering earthiness. The middle is slightly sweet malt with faint caramel and toast and slight fig notes. This is definitely rich and complex but not at all sweet. Some slight sweet notes keep it almost balanced but it leans towards the hoppy side. A very nice Stout. Still it has a fully creamy mouthfeel but hoppy dry and moving.

12-21-12 is utter darkness - an appropriate appearance for a beer named after a supposed apocalypse. It has the kind of complete blackness only appreciated nowadays way out in the country, hours away from the light pollution of civilization. And its foam, however modest, leaves a constellation of lacing sprawled across the glass.

The scent of fresh-pulled espresso shots and vanilla pods is immediate on the nose. We can add chocolate and almond paste to that list too. It's an undeniably rich and forward bouquet that practically encompasses an entire Italian bakery in one satisfyingly bittersweet sniff. Intoxicating stuff (without even taking the 8.5% into account) that practically catapults out the glass.

The flavour that smacks you on the lips, however, is majorly comprised of the same old lactose milky chocolate and stale coffee qualities that is more or less customary for the style (though there is a noteworthy bitter almond flavour to set it slightly apart). Again, a hint of chilies or cinnamon would only accentuate this strength, but oh well. The burnt Nutella qualities can hold their own.

It is often the case with stronger stouts that rather than you drinking them, they seem to seize you and shake the living sense out of your being and brain. This one will probably do so too, but it won't let you know it's done so; the strength is unassuming and it offers fair trade for the brain cells it kills. Still, compared to the opulently rich stouts this is a rather plain-Jane example.

It may just be me, but I think it'd be better suited for a beer named after the Mayan apocalypse to be made with cocoa, chilies, and other time-honored Mexican flavours. 12-21-12 is not (and last I checked oats were not the traditional Mexican grain). It's not a bad stout, but it's an obvious missed opportunity in my opinion. Still, this Horseheads offering is worthy of the $6-7 sacrifice.

 

 

 

This beer glistens and winks mahogany and is smooth and imposingly deep and full. Looks deep and straight down, like burnt brown sugar. Few bubbles and a milk creaminess has already found you with a sweet thick bread. This has a beautiful nose that in unwinding shows crisp oatmeal and some caramel, char, some smoke and a bit of chocolate. First taste was coffee. Cold coffee with a bit of bitterness. I like it already. Leathery crispness to this malt. It's bracing. Second glass more alcohol came to the palate and a dryness from alcohol . More earthy and nutty qualities too. You know how nuts can be bitter? Like that. It's actually terrifically malty. Rich and mellow sweetness as this one drinks .

Smooth and creamy but dry enough to open up and realize a fullness. Chewy. Got a fruity back note and and drinks without any real smoke qualities although there are some in the nose. Firm but smooth nutty caramel. Perfect bitter dry finish you can almost hear the malt crackling. Poured out like oil!