“This winter favourite is seasonally brewed, using 75kg of flaked oats toasted in our brewpub kitchen to showcase a nutty oat profile, this stout is deliciously chocolatey and nutty with a full bodied creamy mouthfeel and firm roasty finish. A moderately low carbonation reminiscent of a traditional English Stout accentuates strong notes of caramel and nut on the palate.”

Glassware: Snifter.

Appearance: Dense oily black with a finger and a half of frothy light brown head. It’s retained well and weaves a healthy lace down the glass.

Aroma: Initially it’s a little too shy and withdrawn for our liking. We’ve gotta give the glass a really good swirl to open up the subtle chocolate, cocoa, coffee and slightly creamy oatmeal. Eventually it does all come together but again it’s just too weak and watery for this style of beer. In its defence it is in session stout territory so we can’t be too harsh.

Flavour: We must give them credit coz it keeps improving as we go. Although it’s a little watered down the base flavours are fairly decent; delicate roasted malts, cocoa, coffee, oatmeal and milk chocolate. But as we say that the evolution stops in its tracks and limps over the line with a really tired finish which pulls up short on the back end.

Mouthfeel: Holds up surprisingly well. Smooth and well rounded, a little creamy. Finely carbonated. 5.1% ABV is very low for the style.

Overall: We feel if they just boosted it up to about the 6-6.5% ABV mark they could have beefed everything else up and completed the beer. Instead it’s just thin and lacking substance. We like our Stouts big, roasty and aggressive and this is the polar opposite.