Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout
Fresh sample with the recently added bottled-on date. Surprisingly horse-mane black coloring for such a smaller ABV beer. Giant liquid-cookie head that bubbles up, comes back to earth and really lingers. Nothing but sweetness on the nose. I can only slightly tune into the roasted malts. No hop presence at all, but none expected. A few shards of oats, or maybe i'm persuaded by the bottle color. Could this be one of the sweetest beers ever? Not a stout to my tastebuds, closer to Young's Double Chocolate than their interpretation. Thick mouthfeel but tongue cannot ignore the cloying sweetness. Good starter beer for macro-freaks, but otherwise avoidable except for dessert settings. Might make a good beer ice-cream dessert.