Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout - Samuel Smith Old Brewery (Tadcaster)

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3,795 Ratings

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rAvg: 4.24
pDev: 11.32%
Reviews: 2000
Hads: 1795

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Brewed by:
Samuel Smith Old Brewery (Tadcaster)

United Kingdom (England)

Style | ABV
Oatmeal Stout | 5.00% ABV

Availability: Year-round. bottle (1995), on-tap (3), growler (1), nitro-bottle (1).

Notes:
No notes at this time.

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Reviews

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Reviews by the Alström Bros:

Todd

Massachusetts

3.9/5 rDev -8%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

550ml clear bottle.

Pours a near opaque black as midnight rich-looking beer, crowned with a frothy tan foam head; sturdy retention and a slight stick to the glass. Head remains all the way through the drinking experience. Outstanding.

Aroma is very soft and gentle on the nose with notes of earth, blackstrap molasses, nuts and some dark roasted malt astringency akin to coffee.

Firm, thick, milky smooth mouthfeel, paired with a very high dextrin sweetness and feel, that's not sickly sweet, but nonetheless ample, defining and bold. Oats are noticeable, giving the beer depth and lending a touch of starch in the flavour. A slight acrid character is lifted from the palate by the beer's prickly carbonation. Robust. More rich blackstrap molasses with undertones of coffee, unsweetened bitter dark cooking cholocate, deep earth flavours, real faint aniseed, a mark of herbal (rosemary?) and a leafy/woody character from the hops that carries over into the mouthfeel; bitty, coarse, a bit pear-like. Bit of a "cola" edge appears where the beer peaks and begins to fade. Mineral flavours pull out of the thickness and embed themselves in the sweet-ish / woody finish.

A meal in a bottle, this one is. A classic English stout with all of the complexities expected from much touted Old Brewery Tadcaster. Certainly not the best stout in my opinion, nor the best example of the style, but it is damn good.

Serving type: bottle

01-16-2003 18:13:41 | More by Todd

Jason

Massachusetts

4.63/5 rDev +9.2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4

Presentation: 12 oz clear bottle that has gold foil on top, no freshness date to be found.

Appearance: Ink black with a wonderful light tan lace which leaves rings all the way down the glass.

Smell: Mildly acidic dark malt twang, a little earthy and some sweetness also.

Taste: Smooth as silk with a crisp full body to boot. A strong roasted malt flavour pushes everything aside ... to make way for a creamy sweetness. There seem to be an hidden earthy undertone throughout ... most likely from the Yorkshire yeast. Hop bitterness is vague yet keeps the sweetness in check. A semi dry falls on the palate as soon as the sweetness fades. Dark roasted coffee, over caramelized buttery toffee and dark sweetened chocolate flavours swirl around the tastebuds to make for a bitter sweet finish.

Notes: A cult classic among beer geeks dating back to 1980 ... lets have a moment of silence in honour of this fine brew ... if you want to jump into the world of stouts give this one a try, you might be surprised and actually love it ... I did that is for sure.

Serving type: bottle

09-12-2001 23:09:50 | More by Jason