Ale Of Minerva
Black Sky Brewery

 

dubbed an imperial oatmeal brown, its pretty dark for a brown ale, sure its still a shade of brown, but this is more like a stout or a porter in appearance, clean and shiny though with a nice lasting lace tan head. aroma has some of the more bitter roasted dark malts too, but plenty of the usual chocolate type grain here too, sturdy and wintery. i dont reckon oats have much of a smell to them, but i can somehow tell just smelling this that its going to be really oaty, maybe its the little bit of sweetness, not sure. the flavor sure confirms the high oat content, its thick and starchy and a little sweet and a little bit like a bowl of oatmeal, really oaty as they go, this must have been one heck of a mash! lots of layers of chocolate in here, all the body from the oats lets that linger, not too sweet in the end, but very substantial, creamy almost, and certainly wintery. this is an ambitious recipe and its very well done, an oatmeal brown taken to near the extreme of where it can go. i think it would love a bourbon barrel too! awesome how much these guys keep evolving, this is a robust beer, well worth stopping in for this winter!