Common Cow
Ground Effect Brewing

 

Draft at the brewery
You don't see a stout with oats, wheat, and lactose together very often, and with actual grape nuts cereal

Huge frothy tan to brown head with great retention and lacing, super dark basically black beer

Nose lots of chocolate, roast, coffee, into cereal like actual cereal and grainy dough like, dry roasty grain, no real caramel but no char either, creamy oats, touch of lactose

Taste big roasty grains, dark chocolate and coffee, little char, roasty but not scorched, cocoa, into creamy oats and very light dried lactose sugar, grainy cereal way in the background, not fruity at all, and no caramel, medium bitterness between the roast and mild spicy hops, a big creamy character late that gives the reminiscence of diacetyl but not buttery... Or is it? Now I'm not sure if my mind is adding butter thanks to the lactose or three is a little diacetyl buttery cracker in there, which is actually ok for the style. Add it warms I'm fairly sure there is some diacetyl

Mouth is medium to fuller bod, a bit creamy almost chewy, medium carb, sight diacetyl slickness

Overall not bad, somewhat like a cross between oatmeal/sweet stout and dry Irish stout, and an interesting take on it. The light diacetyl buttery cracker thing late blends with the cereal and lactose so it's an interesting character, and acceptable for either style. Bitterness brings the American twist to it.