Brew Brain Blog

I hope everybody had a good 4th of July. I hope you all picked out a tasty beer to help you enjoy the holiday. I’m ending my day with a new-to-me brew from Trader Joe’s - Stockyard Oatmeal Stout.

Alright, I either need to stop buying beer from Trader Joe’s, or I need to stop caring that I can’t easily figure out who the hell brews the beer and why. I don’t think I have a web site to link to, but I may. I don’t know for sure yet. The bottle says it is brewed by Stockyard Brewing Co., but if a website exists for that brewer, I can’t find it. A Google search leads me to believe it is a beer brewed by Goose Island Beer Company and sold to Trader Joe’s under a different label. However, I can’t be sure at this point. Goose Island does have an Oatmeal Stout and both Goose and Stockyard are from Chicago, but the label is different. I don’t know for sure that it is the same beer.

Alright, on to the beer:

The pour is a very dark brown with nifty deep amber highlights where the light hits the glass. A small tan head briefly sits on top. It is an attractive stout.

The smell to me is very much like a dark chocolate mocha with a toasted bagel nearby. Is this the end of the day or breakfast?

The beer tastes very much like the smell led me to believe it would. Instead of sweet dark caramel flavors, I got coffee and dark chocolate. It also has a pretty strong smoke flavor as well as toasted oats, and finishes with a nice little bitter that just pushes the malts over enough to be tasted. Very nice. It makes me want a chocolate chip muffin.

The mouth feel is lighter than I would expect given the flavors. I’d say it barely reaches a medium. The carbonation is spot on and the beer is smooth from start to finish. No complaints.

If you are looking for a really sweet brew to end your meal, this probably isn’t it. If you want an end of day specialty coffee drink flavored brew that tastes good and won’t keep you awake, I’m willing to bet you’ll enjoy this one a whole lot. I know I did. I could make this a regular before bed snack without too much trouble.

Enjoy your beer,

Brew Brain