Tasting Notes: Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout

Brewery: Samuel Smith's Old Brewery

Style: Oatmeal Stout

ABV: 5%

Date Poured: April 2008

Samuel Smith's used to be one of my regulars. At least the Taddy Porter and the Oatmeal Stout. These were two beer that I cut my teeth on when I was getting into "better beer".

There was only one problem. Samuel Smith's insisted on sending their beer across the Atlantic in clear glass bottles. Perhaps this is not a problem in England. Maybe the turnover of stock is better and the stores know better how to treat beer. But over here, it wouldn't take too long before a bottle sitting out in the fluorescent light would get skunked. Nothing worse than dropping good money on beer only to have it tasting off when you got it home.

When I lived in Maine, I had a solution. I knew what day my local co-op got there beer shipments and I could go there on Wednesdays and pick my bottles straight from a sealed box. Down here in Georgia, it wasn't so easy and it was an even chance that I would get a sub-par sample when grabbing the Taddy Porter.

So I stopped buying Samuel Smith's products.

Many months (maybe more than a year now) ago, Samuel Smith's started bottling their beers in brown bottles for consumption on this side of the Atlantic. It took me a long time to give them a try (creature of habit) but I finally picked up a bottle of Oatmeal Stout to sample.

It pours opaque dark brown with a creamy light brown head. Smells of sweet chocolate and a grainy oat. Sweet and milky but lightly bitter aromas.

It fills the mouth with rich and creamy flavors. The oatmeal is there bringing a light bitterness and astringency to a sweet and creamy malt. There's a lightly sticky texture and it is quite full bodied.

It's as good as ever! Time to add these back to my regular rotation.

Samuel Smith's Old Brewery