Picked this up as a 12oz single from Trader Joe’s.
Nice looking pour with a high, mocha colored head, but relatively poor retention and not much lace. Very good dark brown body with some sharp, garnet highlights. When the head has gone the beer takes on the exact appearance of a coke; including the mild streams of carbonation.
Typical for the style, but I detect more lactose notes. In fact, I might even go as far as to ssay that if this were a blind tasting I could have mistaken this for a milk or sweet stout rather than an oatmeal. Alcohol comes through really strong for the style – almost solvent like – and this sits badly with the chocolatey, milkiness of the brew.
Lightish mouthfeel, and finishes with some burned notes, a touch of charcoal and again, a noticeable degree of ethanol.
This was an older bottle, but not old enough to suspect it had turned, but perhaps this would be better fresh. I’d probably give it another chance.