Southern Tier's Oat Imperial Oatmeal Stout

This is another Southern Tier seasonal that I've had to wait too long to get because I can't get it in Texas.

Pours an inky black with a good medium to dark tan head that is very good for an impy stout. Reddish highlights that look a little oily as it warms, which as it turns out is the only reason imperfection in this beer.

The smell is dominated by the roasted malt, with the sharpness that an oatmeal stout should have. Fades to a roasted coffee as it warms.

One of the smoothest impy stouts I've ever had. The 11% ABV in any other beer is in your face, but in this one it's damn near imperceptible except in the warming aftertaste. Excellent sweet roasted malt flavor hits you first, and at all times goes down amazingly smooth. More vinous in feel and taste as it warms, but always with the slightly sharp/grainy oatmeal flavor and always perfectly smooth.

Great beer.

Southern Tier's Choklat

I'm not sure why, but I've been waiting for this one. I'm usually not a fan of chocolate stouts, but this one is well regarded and it's from a brewery that I can't get in Texas so of course that makes me want it more.

Deep opaque black with a moderate, medium tan head on even a hard pour. Small, slow bubbles apparent at the edge of the glass.

Smells great. Obvious chocolate that lingers between cocoa and semi-sweet and increases as it warms. Solid roasted malt backbone.

Bitterness hits you first, with a smooth, slow feel that feels like there's no carbonation. The chocolate comes next, almost as sweet as a Young's Double Chocolate Stout, but the 11% ABV and huge roasted bitterness keep it in check. Young's is like drinking a cake, this isn't subtle, but it's balanced.

This is not an every day beer. It's not that it's too big, but it is too chocolatey. Young's is sickly-sweet, this one is just chocolately. It would be good to split the bomber iwth friends as a dessert beer. Then hit the straight-up stouts, or maybe even straight-up coffee.