Ninkasi Oatis Oatmeal Stout

Back when I first started drinking beer, I feel like there were only a few stouts widely available. Most of the time you'd be stuck with a watery Guiness. Personally, I was privileged to have access to Shakespeare Stout, the one beer that I can credit as the catalyst for my long term love affair with beers. But of the few stouts available, Sammy Smith also had a particularly fond memory in my mind for it's quality of using oatmeal. Today, almost every brewery has their version of an oatmeal stout, and they range from excellent to atrocious. The youthful, yet eager brewery, Ninkasi, has done a very nice job with their take on it. It's a carefully calculated balance of oats, chocolate roasted malts, and bitterness, and the end result is quite enjoyable. The body is fairly light on this one, so it won't overwhelm you like it's big thick Russian Imperial cousin. 7.5% alc/vol. 45 ibus

Oatis Oatmeal Stout: ****