Wild Goose Oatmeal Stout

One of the things I've started to learn while brewing is the expectations of a particular style. The generally accepted list of guidelines for a style comes from the BJCP, or Beer Judges Certification Program. These are often the standards used to judge beers in competitions on both the home brewing and professional level. A copy of these guidelines can be found here.

Without going off on too much of a rant, there's a limited usefulness for a set of guidelines like this. It's helpful when trying to categorize a beer, or to form the basis for what to expect from a style, but I'm the kind of person who appreciates a beer on its own merits, so not fitting within a particular set of rules won't make me like it less.

I mention this because when I first poured this beer, I saw that it had a slightly frothy head, about a finger thick, and tan in color. This is completely within the style. However, it started to dissipate right away, and didn't last very long. I was a bit disappointed by this at first, but thought about it and it's really only because I was expecting something else. In this case, knowing what the guidelines for the style are almost made me enjoy the beer less than I would have otherwise. The beer is very dark, near black, but still allows ruby highlights to come through.

The beer has a roasted smell, but sweet rather than bitter. It's mild, with hints of oatmeal. I really didn't detect any discernible hop character, just a slightly sweet mild coffee aroma.

The roast quality comes through on the tongue as well, with very smooth and mild toasted flavors in the front of the mouth, and a touch of bitterness in the back. It's almost like a very smooth and mild cup of coffee. There's just a little bit of sweetness when the beer is first sipped. I detected a bit of graininess to the flavor as well. It strikes a good balance with the mild flavors and slight bitterness, which seems to come mostly from the grains rather than the hops. It's absolutely a malt-heavy profile, but very pleasant.

The beer has a nice medium body with slight carbonation. There's a decent bit of coating in the mouth from it, and grows a little sticky even. It feels a touch on the dry side, but still very smooth.

As a whole, this is a nice, mild, and easily sessionable beer. It has a good strong flavor profile, pleasant aroma, and goes down smoothly. My only complaint would be the stickiness that builds up in the mouth as I got through the glass. I really enjoyed the smooth roasted qualities that it had.

- Adam