I've been out of the area for a while, and at the first store I saw it a week ago there was a bottle of Berkshire's Holidale which had the "Barleywine Style" crossed out on the label and "Oatmeal Stout" added. I wasn't going to buy it right then anyway but asked the guy "so they did a stout rather than a barleywine this year?" and he said "Yeah, there was a labeling issue there". All the ones I've seen in other stores since just had the barleywine label. I finally get around to buying one, and it smells and tastes like a (pretty tasty) stout to me, with the kind of thick mouthfeel one would expect from an oatmeal stout. It's nothing like their Holidales of the past - I rather liked the flavor of the cocoa nibs added the last couple of years but they fell off fast. Neither their fb page or their website says anything one way or the other, although the website does peg the ABV at 6 something which is more like what I'd expect from what I'm tasting than the high-test Holidales of earlier years. It's a nice beer I'd recommend either way, but what's the story?
i have a bottle in the fridge that i've been saving. i had no idea it was a stout, but i just held it up to light and it looks pretty dark inside the bottle. i guess i will be drinking this sooner than later. thanks for the heads up!
It was a 6ish % oatmeal stout this year. Not sure of the "why" for the change nor the labeling issue but we got a keg of the oak aged version and it was pretty tasty
