AIDAN Smoked Rye Oyster Stout
Lakefront Brewery

AIDAN – Smoked Rye Oyster Stout
Lakefront Brewery

Overall Score: 3.5 / 5

Look – 3.75
Pours nearly black—darker than root beer—but not opaque. You can catch red-copper highlights around the edges of the glass if you look for them. I poured it aggressively, like I was putting out a fire, and the foam climbed the glass before settling into a thin, caramel-colored head.

Nose – 3.5
Smoke first. Not campfire, not barbecue—just a suggestion. Then something… coastal. A hint of fish oil? That sounds worse than it is. There’s also a green, earthy hop note in there.

I keep coming back to the oysters. The can says calcium from oyster shells, and suddenly my brain goes beach. That smell when you’re standing near wet sand and seawater—slightly funky, mineral, almost fishy but not unpleasant. Is it really there, or am I primed because I read the label? Hard to say.

I sucked the aroma straight out of the can. If you know what you’re looking for, you’ll find it. If you don’t… maybe not.

Taste – 3.75
Bold up front. First things first: no salmon, no anchovies, no fish stew. Thank God.

Black patent malt? Check. Sweetness? Check. Then smoke—very restrained. Oyster? Maybe. It’s in the background, suggestive rather than obvious. A little bitterness shows up, but sweetness backs it up quickly.

There’s a moment where it clicks again—smoke, oyster, mineral. How do you train hops to taste like seaweed? I don’t know, but something here leans that way.

Alcohol stays mostly in check, though it shows up briefly. There’s a subtle fruit note tucked under the dark malt. This beer is layered, but quietly so.

The rye is hard to pin down. It’s not caraway, not doughy. Think dark—pumpernickel-adjacent. Whole wheat, but rounder, grainier. I noticed it mostly because I was actively looking for it.

The finish leans sweet. There isn’t enough bitterness to fully dry it out, which makes the smoke-and-oyster character feel even more subtle—so subtle you start wondering if you imagined it.

Mouthfeel – 3.25
Full-bodied and sweet. It gets heavy. Not unpleasant, but noticeable. It feels better once it’s gone, which leads to that internal debate: Was that good? Do I want another? Maybe… someday.

Overall – 3.5
This beer is great marketing, and honestly, everyone should try one at least once.

If you love it, you’re going to have to explain why to your friends—and that might be the hardest part. Or they’ll just shrug and say, “Yeah, go for it.”

That’s kind of the beauty of beer. Sometimes the point isn’t whether you want a second one—it’s that you experienced the first.

Poured from a 12 fl oz can into a tulip. The ground oyster shells are fun marketing, but I'm not sure they add anything. The smoke and rye, however, are definitely present and linger well into the aftertaste. They make for a burly, savory stout experience that I normally only see from imperial stouts, but minus the >10% ABV and sticky mouthfeel that tend to come with the territory. Really excellent, this is my kind of beer.