Originally a drink for lactating mothers, oatmeal stout was described as nutritional on early labels.
Oats are in the same family as barley, and a small addition yields great flavor.
Popular in the late 1800's, the last oatmeal stout was brewed before the First World War until Samuel Smith reintroduced this style in 1980. Almost opaque, with an unusually silky texture and complex, medium-dry velvet palate. Pizza and salad, Italian foods, steamed clams, grilled ahi tuna, lobster with drawn butter, steak, ploughman's lunch, crumpets, shish kebabs, vegetable ragout and eggs Florentine, dark flavorful bread and aged Stilton. Serve at 55 degrees. Twenty-four 12 ounce bottles.