Barrel Aged Series - Oatmeal Stout - East Coast Edition 2018
Black Isle Brewery Co Ltd

Copenhagen 27/0 2022. 33 cl bottle from Høkeren. Label made out to look like wood with Black Isle's logo in gold. Looks a bit like the female gender symbol with wings.

Pours opaque, dark brown with a dense beige head. A bit bubbly. Settles as thin, flimsy layer of foam struggling to cover the surface of the beer. Substantial lacing.

Aroma is intense and rich with sweet malty odor mingling with an earthy, dark scent soaked in alcohol. Dark, roasted malts, toffee and dark chocolate. Whisky, leather and humid soil.

Light carbonation. Medium thick, oily, soft, smooth, lightly tingling texture.

Flavor is intense with a strong sweetness followed by a lighter sourish bitterness. Aftertaste is sweet with a prominent undertone of dark alcohol. Lingering. Boozy and semi-dry finish.

Potent barrel boozer which does not try to hide the booze.

 

 

 

330 mL bottle from the LCBO; best before Jul 25 2020 and served barely chilled.

Pours inky black and totally opaque, producing one finger of frothy, dark tan-coloured head that dissipates in less than two minutes' time. Though a good swirl kicks it back up briefly, its former glory is lost - a bubbly collar is the primary remnant, with a thin, wavering band of lace painted just above it. Bold and rich nose, with roasted malts doing most of the legwork - I'm getting chocolate, Scotch whisky, and coffee, as well as touches of molasses, oak and date. The alcohol is impossible to miss, but to its credit, it integrates well with the rest of the bouquet.

Tasty stuff; the nose has already told most of the story, with roasted malt flavours of cocoa and coffee figuring in strongly, helped along by hints of molasses, dark fruit and of course whisky. More boozy towards the back end of the sip, with hints of ashiness and oak tannins; there's a pleasant little suggestion of peat smoke in the aftertaste, too. Medium-full in body, with low carbonation levels that weakly agitate the surface of the palate, resulting in a smooth, somewhat slick mouthfeel. I found this very easy to drink for its strength, but if you can't stand peated Scotch then your mileage may vary quite a bit.

Final Grade: 4.04, an A-. Black Isle's 2018 East Coast Edition Oatmeal Stout isn't the best barrel-aged stout I've ever had, not by a long shot... but don't take that wrong, because I still really enjoyed my glass of it. I'm kicking myself for not picking up a few more of these while they were available - not only was the price very reasonable (under $4 CAD), but the small serving size and relatively intense flavours would make this an excellent night cap for any winter's eve. Worth a shot if you can find it, though I expect stock to be dwindling at this point. Oh well, there's always hope for a 2019 release.

 

 

 

 

I am not a big stout fan, unless there is coffee or the like involved. But even among stouts, this one tastes rude. That's because I like scotch even less than stout and this is dosed with it.
The nose is deceptively gentle, but the taste is anything but.
I prefer KBS, CBS, Peche Mortel, Dragon's Milk and the like. Not this.

Bottle: Poured a pitch-black color stout with nice large dark brown foamy head with good retention and some lacing. Aroma of light roasted malt with some black chocolate notes with some cocoa notes and some peated scotch notes also discernible. Taste is a mix of black chocolate notes with some residual sugar notes, some cocoa and nice barrel-aged notes of peat scotch. Body is about average for style with good carbonation. Enjoyable imperial stout with nice barrel-aging features.

 

Body is dark brown verging on black, covered with a dense marshmallow head, colour of cocoa powder, with great retention.
Aroma is very dark roast coffee, chocolate, rum, with some alcohol burn. Soft and rich.
Intense flavours of burnt coffee, dark chocolate, and the acidic bitterness that comes with them. Sizzling alcohol burn in the finish, and it lingers. Though it does cut through the richness, it's a bit much and could stand to be mellowed out. Hints of smoke and charred wood to, reminiscent of a peated scotch. Medium body and carbonation. Silky mouthfeel, but that burn takes away from it.

This could be a great one if they toned done the malt roasting and eased up on the alcohol. The smokiness is a nice touch. Give it a shot, and keep and eye out for the next year's release, hopefully they make some adjustments.

One of the smoothest oatmeal stout I have tried.