Epic Oatmeal Stout
Norsemen Brewing Co.

8oz glass at Beer Revolution YEG Oliver Square - this is apparently DEFINITELY NOT THE COFFEE VERSION!

This beer appears a clear (I think), very dark orange-highlighted brown colour, with one skinny finger of loosely foamy and bubbly beige head, which leaves some decent Arabic script pattern lace around the glass as things slowly sink away.

It smells of lightly roasted, bready and doughy caramel malt, a hint of cafe-au-lait, some mild black fruitiness, faint cocoa powder, and some plain earthy, musty, and floral hop bitters. The taste is gritty and grainy caramel malt, bittersweet chocolate, subtle day-old coffee grounds, cold cream, and more well-understated leafy, herbal, and floral hoppiness.

The carbonation is adequate in its palate-satisfying frothiness, the body a solid medium weight, and fairly smooth, with the oatmeal finally kicking in, engendering a minor creaminess. It finishes off-dry, the malt and cocoa essences predominating.

Overall - while I wouldn't ascribe the word 'epic' to this offering myself, I must admit that it is indeed well-made. Full of flavour, and enjoyable enough to put back while watching other people going all agog about the NFL games showing on the many, many boob tubes in this joint.

Got it from Norseman in Camrose on my way through to Edmonton. Currently on tap (Dec 2016)
Picked up a growler of it and polished it off in the day ;)

Appearance: A decent solid black, light colour tinges of dark russet and beaver fur, with a full finger of oatmeal coloured head. It is finely foamy and whipped looking and dissipates very slowly and leaves very little if any lace behind. My glass was actually very clean looking when I was done.

Aromatics: Great notes of caramelized brown sugar and butter blended with dates, raisins, mild roast coffee, and lighter scents of apple and vanilla.

Taste: This is a nice blend - it is very similar to the aromas and has been prepared in a very clean filtered water base. The bitters are clean coffee, cacao, licorice; the fruit accents are dark plum fruits with bruised pomaceous tree fruits. There is a bit of yeasty bread that is interspersed with lightly toasted oatmeal.

Palate: Though the bubbles are hard to see, they are great to feel. This is a stout that I could enjoy more frequently or as a sessionable because it it has the refreshing crispness you might find in an ale without it traversing the styles. On the other hand this also means it doesn’t come out as creamy as many stouts do, but I actually enjoyed this aspect a lot - the flavours compliment the mouthfeel very well.

Overall: Great flavour and mouth feel. Super easy to drink, not sure how “epic” it is, as I think it could use a bit of a punch up in the oatmeal maybe. But otherwise very enjoyable. This is also a stout I’d love to pair up, so…

Pairing : The brew leaves a lot of flavour opportunities - and personally (as I often do with coffee/oatmeal stouts) is have it for breakfast! I enjoyed the first two glasses of this beer with an old country style breakfast - ordered up with a few strips of bacon, a couple eggs over easy, and spicy seasoned hashbrowns, with a side of thick sliced whole grain toast (heavily toasted). The extra salt and seasoning from the bacon and hash is the missing component here I think, also the eggs humble out the effervescent-ness of the carbonation.