“Crafted in collaboration with Broken Bay Pearl Farm, this oyster stout is an ode to the Hawkesbury River. Where bitter meets sweet and umami takes the stage, the subtle briny minerality of 1000 freshly shucked Broken Bay oysters ebbs through every sip. While rich, roasty depths as deep as the tides are balanced by silky smoothness and a whisper of smoke.” 

Glassware: Snifter.

Appearance: Jet black with a billowing three finger brown head which steadily collapsed. Minimal lacing clings to the glass as it ebbs.

Aroma: The first thing we notice is that gamey and almost briney scent we get from all good oyster stouts. As it settles the base stout characters begin to open up with delicate roasted notes, rich molasses, Vegemite, coffee, dark salty chocolate, umami-like seaweed and sweet soy. Not bad at all. Our only criticism would be that we’d love to see the roasted qualities dialled up a bit more.

Flavour: As a whole it’s pretty good but as we were just touching on we feel it needs a charge of intensity pumped through it. The gamey and briney oysters are nicely tucked away (as they should be) but we feel the base stout lacks that necessary oomph. Delicate molasses, chocolate, umami and treacle into more slightly roasted coffee, campfire and ash later in the piece. Nicely rounded finish, tapers off a bit though.

Mouthfeel: A tad thin and slippery and a low Co2 doesn’t help its cause. Medium body with a very well hidden 7% ABV.

Overall: It’s a fairly decent oyster stout. To be honest it’s a one and done situation though. Tough to compare it to the Three Boys expression as it’s the benchmark for the style but this one falls just short in our opinion.