A continued love affair

Me + Winter = Stout Love Forever

I was wandering the shelves of my friendly neighborhood liquor store, looking for something, anything different, really, and not finding much that piqued my interest. At the bottom of a display, I saw a sixer of this. Check out Barney Flats Oatmeal Stout, brewed by the Anderson Valley Brewing Company in Booneville, CA. According to the brewery’s site:

With its deep, dark brown-black color, thick, full-bodied, velvety-smooth mouth feel, mocha character, and, strong yet subtle hop bite, Barney Flats Oatmeal Stout is one of the thickest, richest, and most complex stouts on the market today. In 1990, it became our first gold medal winner, at the Great American Beer Festival. Barney Flats was judged so superior to the other stouts that no other medals were even awarded in its category. Try it and see why Stewart Kallen described it as, "Slippery, creamy, dark, and sweet as a Pacific May morning," in his book, The 50 Greatest Beers in the World.

Jason, of the Almstrom Bros of Beer Advocate, noted the following:
Presentation: 12 oz brown long-neck bottle with no freshness date. Blurb about the beer on the back label.
Appearance: Stout black with a wispy light brown lace.
Smell: Sweet and tangy with a mild coffee and chicory aroma.
Taste: Rich, smooth and textured. A fight between the roasted flavour and hop oil … hop oil finally gives up. Hops give a good fight with a flowery bitterness and leave a short trail of flavour. Roasted flavour keeps on pushing on, full bodied and a bit of sweetness come through. The finish is of a faded tangy roasted ending.
Notes: Seriously hearty stout, very full bodied and pretty much no holds bared on your taste buds. This is what you call a beefed up stout … where is my cigar?

My pathetic reviews can’t top Jason’s insightful notes, so I am not going to try, except to let you all know that this is hands down, absolutely, my favorite stout right this second. Go find some!

Oh, and I ripped this picture off of the Google. I didn't go on a glass buying spree. Mine was consumed from a regular old pint glass. Of course.