Stone 12th Anniversary Bitter Chocolate Oatmeal Stout

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 9

Rated in Jan. 2009. Pours deep dark brown with thin mocha head. The aroma is full of big inviting dark chocolate notes pulling me toward the glass. I also get layers of toffee, roasted malts and a bit of caramel. Solid. The taste is nearly the same with thick rich dark chocolate that has that bit of velvetiness to it. It then moves into molasses, toffee, smooth roasted malts and a sense of coffee toward the finish. Yummmmmy.

Aroma: 10 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 10 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 9

Pours deep sable with a thick, dark chocolaty tan head. Aroma presents roast malt, semi-sweet chocolate, and subtle molasses and toffee tones. Flavor delivers bitter chocolate, roast malt, toffee, molasses, and a little evergreen wood - must be hops, giving this a bit of a black IPA feel. Firm, smooth mouthfeel features good fizz and a nice roast malt, chocolaty and slightly smoky finish. Encore, encore!

Aroma: 10 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

Rebrewed for 20th Anniversary Encore Series. Just checked my receipt and was only charged $2.99 for this beer. Ha what a bargain. Great looking black beer with a huge brown head that lasts and coats the glass with thick lacing. Roasty aroma with dark chocolate and alcohol. Flavour as expected has dark bitter chocolate, dark fruits, licorice, cocoa some sweetness of oatmeal and milk chocolate. Earthy, dry finish. Medium/full mouthfeel, chalky yet smooth. Good and tasty stuff. Alcohol warmth towards the end.

Aroma: 10 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

On draft at Toronado San Diego. Pours with a black body topped by a medium thick, brown head with lots of lacing. It’s malty and roasty with coffee and bittersweet chocolate notes. Full bodied, slightly tingly from the carbonation and warming.

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 9 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 9

Thanks eagle. Poured was as dark as used motor oil major choco head good lacing throught. Aroma was a nice chocolate, roastedness. Flaove was amazing chocolate smoke not overly hot either. Wow another from stone I love it.

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 5 | Overall: 6

I had to have this beer a few different times to make sure my opinion of the beer was on target, because it's a small shock to the system when someone regularly make top-notch products, but then puts forth something less than what is expected. The beer has all the makings of a classic imperial stout except for one small problem. It just doesn't taste very good. Perhaps a little age and things will come together a bit better, but I had 3 about 60 days apart and neither time did it for me.

The beer pours out a deep midnight black with a beautiful 1" thich creamy tan head. The head lasted the entire pint, and left behind some really intricate lacing. Aromas were dark chocolate, but it reminded me more of smelling the inside of a Hershey's baking chocolate tin, than smelling something rich and decadent. Other notes of Raisinettes, coffee, a touch of treacle and a bit of vanilla extract. Flavors just had an overpowering alcohol effect for me, with that low-grade chocolate flavoring trying to blend with the alcohol. A bit of figs helps to even the alcohol out with some sweetness along with some coffee, but I thought that it was just too hot. I can see this being tasty in 2-3 years and I will definitely re-rate. I've got about 5-6 more bottles so I can be patient. It has to be better, doesn't it?

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 4 | Mouthfeel: 5 | Flavor: 4 | Overall: 5

Black syrup with a tall brown crown, dangnabit this looks as thick as tar. Aroma is disappointing, cold dust (I can’t explain what that is but trust the smell of cold dust is a real smell), sand box (not in a bad way), some mild alcohol, some coffee and cigarettes. This stuff smells well below average and well well below what was expecting from Stone. Taste is thin and watery, a coffee bitterness lingers while dark chocolate dominates the watered down taste. There is a flavour that hides in the background that I will describe as burnt sourness a to me this is what is ruining the beer. I’m shocked about how mild the flavour is there is no boldness to it, it’s just kind of there. On the very last sip I tasted some sweet milk chocolate. This wasn’t the beer I was expecting WHAT HAPPENEND?!?! I have only had a few Stone beers but this is the first subpar one. Just had a huge whiff of rubbing alcohol in the remains of my glass. Thanks Jeff?

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 5 | Flavor: 4 | Overall: 4

Schinkenspeck!!!!!!!! This is the aroma. I just ate this stuff. Don't agree? Go and some at your deli and get some and eat it - it is this smell. Behind this German cured bacon smell that I love there isn't too much more to note aside from some slight citrus hops - very slight, some chocolate. This is very, very disappointing especially considering that it was the finishing beer of the tasting tonight - Mikkeller Jackie Brown demolished this mess (yes, it is not a comparable beer). I like the cured bacon taste (it's taking forever to edit my brutal drunk type, I've pretty much mispelled every word), some oak or wood of some srot. k. fuck this. im done editing my shtitty durnk typing. I miss the sweetness of an oatmeal stout - why ruin this with the 9.2%? it doesnt make any sense. Why cannot you celebrate with a GOOD beer instread of having to make theseover the top beers ever time?. YEa, I getit. you make wacky beers. Well, this time, I'm not down with it. There is morechocolate now and still l a lingering biterness that finally i am asssoccieating with the chocoate. yea, im fairly fcked up but stil i am not enjoying this bere at all. sorry brad, this beer pretty much rots.Full bodied, oily . odd bitter finish. Can I admi t ot wasting money on a Sone beer? Yes. Yes I can. This beer is a piece of shit. Congrats on failure. 'd ove to give this a loower mark - and I should , but still it's gt o some appealing qualities. However, this is, for me, a highly disappointing beer - a reciepie hat has failed miserablablin my eyes. THIS IS A WASTE OF MONEY. Crap beer. did they taste this before and did they assure tehmselves that they were proud to call this the Anniverasry beer? For me, th first STone failure - and such a colossal failure it is. Are you scared to give a Stone beer a bad mark? Are they reading these reviews and if you give them a positive review, are they going go give you free stuff? Open your eyes already. Really deserve a 2.4 as a sub as a Impy Stout if not lower.

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 9

didn't realize this beer was so strong (or classified as an imperial, as it says Oatmeal & Chocolate on the bottle)...oh well. Definitely bitter, but that plays well with the sweetness from the chocolate, and covers up the fact that's it's 9%. I'd compare it to Rogue's Chocolate Stout, slightly more bitter, and apparently stronger. Quite good. 1/09 - tried on tap for the first time...incredibly smooth...better than the bottle. tap-4.6, bottle-4.3

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 9 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 9

Bottle from State Line, enjoyed on this beautiful Labor Day at the pool. The pour was quite motor-oil thick, super gloppy consistency, excellent choco-colored head, full black appearance, quite nice looking, and great lacing all the way down. The aroma was rich chocolate, roast, some faint pine hops? The flavor far exceeded my expectations, was expecting a bit of harshness after hearing about this when it was released not long ago. Alcohol was smooth, no aging needed on my bottle. The top flavors were chocolate for sure, firm and full bitter roasty/smokiness, licorice, hints of molasses, a very faint spice presence like anise or something, all coming together quite nicely and finishing with a detectable resinous type hop. Mouthfeel was as to be expected from the appearance, full viscous body, but seemingly light (low density?) in the mouth, not sticky. Nice one, Stone, along with your resurgence with your 08 RIS, you're back with black!