Twilight Time
Lagunitas Brewing Company

a tasty oatmeal stout more in the english tradition here from the seattle brewery. roasty, smooth, with a little bit of a bready fermentation element, perhaps slightly hoppier than is common in the old world, but thats lagunitas, and its not in any way overdone or too aggressive. eggshell black in the glass, short head on it, fuller body evident, sort of understated looking to me. i get the oats right away with the roast, a sort of breakfasty vibe to this when taken together, protein and dry cereals, starch, dough, and then espresso, burnt black coffee, and dark cocoa, faintly herbal from the hops, presents as smooth, balanced, and well refined, and i love the little yeast wrinkle this has. definite dark chocolate notes in the flavor, along with a nuttiness from the middle malt layers, some definite english malts here, and some minerals pushing through the roast as well, earthy and organic seeming, and its cool that the oats are as evident in the flavor as they are in the smoothed out mellow texture. there is back end bitterness but its slowed way down and not at all out of place. perhaps this is a little stronger than is traditional, but it works, especially in the context of grey wet seattle weather, dont mind a little extra cozy in this. real smooth on the palate and going down, nice pleasant roasty linger, expert brew, the kind of thing still missing from the normal lagunitas lineup...