Oyster Pleasin Season
Cigar City Brewing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sample #3 at the brewpub 1/29/14

This one is heavy, blacker than midnight. For a flavored stout, this certainly has a bigger look even than many imperials. The dark brown head forms a strong crown about a standard finger's height that drops nice lace.
There's a good, firm earthiness, not so much either mineral or raw but pure, not quite peaty but close to it. It's accompanied by a light roast, just a hint of vanilla-like sweetness to balance and a slight hint of hardwood. With a slight boozy note to it, seeming to ride alongside it, the slightly mineral and briny essence of the oyster is kept at about the perfect level, enough to taste without being "fishy." It can be tasted without grossing out someone who hates oysters.
This beer has a big, thick and robust body, velvety on the tongue, but no real weight to it, as though it's all substance without it. It has a crispness that continues without the slightest flattening or fading but is really one of the most incredibly smooth beers I've ever had.