Purest Form
Short's Brewing Company

 

 

 

Pours a rich pleasant brown color.
Nose is mildly sweet, grainy, fairly muted.
Taste is rich and sweet. cacao and burnt notes lurk behind a dominant malty overtone. The most surprising thing about this beer is how normal it is for a shorts beer. If you want an oatmeal stout, here is an oatmeal stout.
The mouthfeel is wonderful, full but light, a dark beer made for drinking, not for sipping.
One of the best stouts I've had in a while. No whale, no monster, no rare delight to be savored on a special occasion, just a damn good beer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

12 ounce bottle into tulip glass, bottled on 3/16/2018. Pours opaque dark brown/black color with a 1 finger dense and rocky khaki head with great retention, that reduces to a small cap that lingers. Nice spotty soapy lacing clings on the glass, with a light amount of streaming carbonation. Aromas of big milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, caramel, brown sugar, nuttiness, toasted oats, and dark/brown bread; with lighter notes of molasses, licorice, dark fruit, smoke, char, herbal, pepper, and yeast/roast/toasted earthiness. Damn nice aromas with great balance and complexity of dark/roast/bready malt and light earthy hop/fruity yeast notes; with great strength. Taste of big milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, caramel, brown sugar, nuttiness, toasted oats, and dark/brown bread; with lighter notes of molasses, licorice, dark fruit, smoke, char, herbal, pepper, and yeast/roast/toasted earthiness. Light-moderate herbal/spicy hop and roast/char bitterness on the finish. Lingering notes of milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, caramel, brown sugar, nuttiness, toasted oats, dark/brown bread, molasses, dark fruit, light smoke/char, herbal, pepper, and yeast/roast/toasted earthiness on the finish for a while. Great complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/roast/bready malt and light earthy hop/fruity yeast flavors; with a great roast/hop bitter/sweet balance; and zero acrid/astringent flavors after the finish. Lightly increasing dryness from lingering hop/char bitterness. Medium carbonation and medium-plus body; with a very smooth, moderately creamy/silky/bready, and lightly sticky/chalky mouthfeel that is great. Minimal warming alcohol for 7.7%. Overall this is an excellent oatmeal stout. All around great complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/roast/bready malt and light earthy hop/fruity yeast flavors; very smooth and easy to drink with the mellowly bitter/drying finish. Very rich English malt complexity, balancing earthy hops, and restrained English yeast fruitiness. A very enjoyable offering, and spot on style example as expected. Almost an imperial version with this batch.

 

Poured from bottle to pint glass. Cola color with a few fingers of mocha spittle foam on top. Nice aromas of roast malt, and dark cocoa. Flavor follows, with chewy oatmeal mixed in with bittersweet cocoa and slight char. Smooth feel.