Oatmeal Stout & Nut Brown Ale

Saturday morning I picked up a couple bottle from Samuel Smith; their Oatmeal Stout and Nut Brown Ale. Later that afternoon, I received a text message from Jesse. It said, “Double Black.” Nice. He was enjoying a Redhook Double Black Coffee Stout. I replied to his message with a picture of the Sam Smith sitting in my fridge. A few minutes later I got another message. It said, “michael says your sam smith is bad beer.”

Fuck Michael. He was drinking Kokanee the last time I saw him; the Budweiser of America’s hat. I cracked open the oatmeal stout and poured it into a pint glass. It was time to see what Michael was complaining about.

The bottle was 550ml; so, after topping off the glass, there was still a good inch of beer in the bottle. The stout poured with very little head. The carbonation seemed to rend down the foam to a thin film. I held the glass up and noticed that despite the almost black color, the stout was fairly translucent. My go to oatmeal stout is Anderson Valley’s Barney Flats; which is much more opaque. I took a sizeable drink; enough to make room for the rest of the bottle. Well, it tasted like a stout; but man, it was watery. This was definitely the thinnest stout I had ever tried. Although, having the consistency of water made it go down…well, like water. And that is never a bad thing. A few drinks later, the glass was empty. While the beer felt like it had been diluted, the flavors came through strong. The roasted malts were a highlight. The finish was a little on the sweet side, but so much so that it detracted from the overall taste. Unfortunately the stout was devoid of any lingering burnt flavors; something common in my favorite oatmeal stouts.

While Sam Smith wasn’t able to dethrone any of my favorites, I would recommed it to anyone who doesn’t usually drink stouts and wants something that isn’t overwhelming. Due to price; about $3.00 per bottle, I probably won’t be purchasing this beer again. I would however drink another without hesitation if the situation presented itself.

After my enjoyable experience with the oatmeal stout, I decided it was time to give the nut brown ale a try. This beer was also very carbonated. Within seconds of pouring, the head was completely dissipated. The color was closer to copper or amber than brown and like the stout, very translucent. Again, I tipped back the glass to free up some room for the remained of the bottle. Well, that wasn’t the most pleasant thing I’ve ever tasted, nor at all what I was expecting. The carbonation was very pronounced and there was a slight metallic taste. The finish was flat and bitter. The consistency was just as watery as the stout.

Hmm…Maybe the problem was with the salsa verde Doritos I had been eating. I pulled an Alaskan Amber from the fridge and performed a taste check. Nope, the amber tastes as it should. I took a few more drinks of the amber just incase the chips were the issue then tried the brwon again. Ok, now it wasn’t so bad, although still not great. I was getting a very upfront nutty taste, but it did not carry though. The finish was still bitter and there was still a hint of metal about it (possibly from the carbonation?). I took a few more drinks; then traded it in for the amber I had opened.

This was my first experience with an English brown, so perhaps this is how they are supposed to taste and I am unfairly comparing them against American browns. If that is the case, I’ll be sticking to my state-side counterparts. The characteristics I like in a brown are distinct caramel or brown sugar notes and a crisp hoppy finish. My favorite brown; Lost Coast’s Downtown Brown, exhibits both of these qualities.

I hopped on Beeradvocate that night to see what the community thought of the beers I had tried. My assumption was that the oatmeal stout would score low. From reading previous reviews on the site, it seemed that the community liked their stouts the same way emo kids like their hair/music/life; black and bitter. To my amazement the oatmeal stout had a current community rating of A-. The bros gave it an A. I looked over the first couple pages of reviews. There was a lot of talk about how complex the flavor was. In my opinion, a stout needs to have a fairly complex flavor. This one had nothing special beyond the requirements for the category. I will agree that it felt polished, but that is probably why there was nothing special that jumped out at me.

I clicked on the link for the nut brown. Now this was shocking. Like the stout, the nut brown was rocking a community score of A-, but the bros were giving it an A+. I sifted through reviews, trying to make some sense the score. People were mentioning the carbonation, but called it appropriate. They talked about the bitter finish, but said it balanced the ale. Maybe I just haven’t spent enough time with English browns to appreciate the style. I’ll try to hunt down some Smuttynose Old Brown Dog in the near future.

I waited to post this review until I had a chance to talk with Michael. It turns out he was referring to the oatmeal stout with his “bad beer” comment. He did admit that he tried the oatmeal stout after drinking a double black. And it wasn’t that it tasted bad; it just didn’t taste like much of anything. I guess that’s fair

One final note. All Sam Smith ales are vegan; register with the Vegan Society.

Cheers!

Kevin