It was a very different time and place when I grew up. In some ways things were more conservative, but in other 
ways, things were much more liberal. Take alcohol for example. The legal drinking age when I grew up was still 18. Since I was graced with an abundance of testosterone at a relatively young age, that meant I had the full on, Ron Jeremy style mustache by the time I was 15 years old. That also meant that by this age I could walk into a local package store and buy a 6 pack or two. Well, that was if you knew the right ones to walk in to.
Be that as it may, it was apparent (at least to me) very early on that I wasn’t like everyone else. I mean, this being the late 70’s and all, who else would walk into a package store (that’s what they call liquor stores in Connecticut) and buy Guinness Stout to bring to a high school party over at Fortin’s Pond? All part of the master plan you see. Because with Guinness being twice as expensive as the standard Bud or Miller and their associated ilk (light beers were around but so wasn’t generic Beer in a black and white can and let’s not forget the famous Billy Beer named after President Jimmy Carter’s brother Billy) I figured that the majority of the package store owners wouldn’t card me as I wasn’t buying the cheap stuff. Hey, it worked, what can I say.
By the time I got to college, I had discovered a couple of things 1) I could drink huge amounts of the cheap stuff and feel like ass the next day or 2) I could drink the more expensive stuff and really, really enjoy what I was drinking. And so it was that this bit of knowledge led to to try another type of stout, Samuel Smith’s Oatmeal Stout.
Now I’m a traditionalist at heart so the brewing tradition at the old brewery in Tadcaster, North Yorkshire, England very much appealed to me. You see, this brewery was founded in 1758 and it still uses the tradition of brewing the beer in 300 gallon, open stone vats instead of the closed stainless steel systems that breweries use today. Also, the well that the brewing water is taken from was dug over 200 years ago. The yeast strain currently in use by this brewery dates back to the early 1900’s and the master hop blender still hand weighs the hops for each batch of beer being brewed. Yes, you will pay more for this beer, but the tradition and craftsmanship that goes into each batch is readily apparent on the tongue.
The Oatmeal Stout produced by the Samuel Smith’s brewery is a hearty robust brew that uses rolled oats to produce a soft mouthfeel and to help balance the sometimes bright notes of the highly roasted malts used in making stouts. When first poured into a glass, the liquid is as black as night, with a small, but dense foamy head on top that starts tall and quickly reduces to about 1/2 inch tall. Then if the light hits it just right, you can see flashes of the deepest ruby in the liquid, giving you a sense of something special right away.
The aroma is one of oats and malted or roasted barley with a bit of nuts, apple and a touch of chocolate thrown in. The taste is similar with lots of malty sweetness and a hint of chocolate but the nuts and apple aren’t there. Instead you get a subtle flavor of toast or burned popcorn just peeking out from underneath everything. It has a modest ABV of 5% which is wonderful as there isn’t a bite of alcohol in either the nose or the taste. All in all, this is a fantastic beverage and one that I cheerfully recommend as a sipper or to pair with shellfish or a strong, earthy cheese like Camembert or Fontina. And yes, it still is every bit as good as when I first tried it.
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