“Black Sunshine pours a brilliant black with mahogany highlights, beneath a tan head. Aromas of coffee and chocolate and roasted malts assault your senses and lead them to a hint of hops. The first sip brings the Sunshine to your dreary palate and sooths your taste buds with velvety roastiness and espresso coffee, and dark fruits. Smooth and robust, the addition of 15% oatmeal adds a complexity unrivalled in other stouts.”
Keeping with tradition, Tim, the green cap man from Nowra in the South Coast of NSW has kept up his end of the bargain with this interesting-looking oatmeal stout. Served in a beer tulip the dense black pour arouses a thick and fizzy 1 inch tan head that takes a life time to simmer down, displaying excellent retention and lacing. The first couple of whiffs yield a sweet, funky character….barnyard-ish with a berry tartness. Although backing up are the heavier stout aromas of chocolate, coffee, roasted malts, dough and raisins. The mouth feel is quite foamy and highly carbonated for a stout. Maybe a touch too fizzy for us. After the bubble explosion on the front-palate subsides a soothing mix of grains, toasted malts and licorice comes through. A hint of chocolate and a sweet touch of dark fruits are followed by a roasty finish with a slight suggestion of hop bitterness on the back end. 5% ABV doesn’t do much in flavour or body but in saying that there is still amounts of flavour without a stronger presence. The flavours do gel together well but the high carbonation is too overpowering. Not bad, but didn’t really excite us a whole lot.