By Greg B.  It’s summer time and you might be expecting me to continue my posts of lighter, more refreshing beers.  But I just happened to buy a bottle of Stoudt’s fat dog, oatmeal imperial stout a few weeks ago, and forgot it was in my fridge.  It was even there pre-pig roast!  Bu I came home from work on night this past week, I had no food in the fridge (I had just finished eating the last of the sausage from the pig roast) and I was hungry.  Being late at night, there were few options open to me here in my ghetto neighborhood, so I searched the fridge.  While I made a dinner of bacon and tortillas (delicious), I had this beer to tide me over.  And it did a great job.

Oatmeal stouts are fantastic beers.  They definitely fit in the ‘hearty’ category of beer, and if you’re looking for a beer that will quench thirst, AND fill you up, this is a definite contender for best beer style.  I poured this beer into a regular, US shaker style pint glass, not really expecting to get as delicious a beer as I did!  The beer poured dark as used motor oil, with a medium/low amount of light tan head.  The head was thick and creamy, an indicator of the beer I was about to try!  There was a coffee/toffee/chocolate aroma, though a sweeter chocolate, almost a milk chocolate than dark chocolate.  The taste was similar, with a milk chocolate flavor barreling through and a dry, roasted flavor of the malts finishing up the taste.  The beer had a creamy texture the whole way down which was great to get a chance to enjoy.  This beer was actually great, I served it colder than I would have wanted (it must have been about 45 degrees F) but it was extremely refreshing at that temperature, and the flavor was great to boot.  It was definitely a  meal in itself, though to be fair, it is a beer to drink on it’s own, or pair with a dessert, not a bacon dinner!  However, I highly recommend you try this beer if you get the chance.  Stoudt’s is a brewery that I’ll be keeping my eye on.  3.9/5, 9% abv.