Beer review : PILGRIM OATMEAL STOUT by THISTED BRYGHUS
"A lot of women believe, they do not like dark beer - until they taste an oat-stout. The english word "smooth" probably is the best way to describe the impression of this round and mild stout. Discretely hopsy using english Pilgrim hops." .. it says on the label..
OK, so this one is trying to appeal to women, by claiming mildness and roundness. This is usually not a good sign, as it mostly means flatter taste and character-less beer. But let us dive in and take a sip.
The Eye:
It pours very dark, reddish brown sporting a serious, two finger light brown head.
The Nose:
Straight of the fridge the nose is hard to get. It needs repeated swirling to release its notes. After tempering it starts to appear. Clear notes of oat meal and rye bread. Fainter notes of malts, licorice and coffee
The Tongue:
The bitterness is medium and more upfront than the label indicated, at least to me. The roundness is rather a medium to below medium body, that relies mostly on the dryness of the oat and the bitterness somewhat balanced with the sweetness of the malts. The swet notes are not that well expressed and is responsible for the rather weak body. There is a light tendency towards a licoricy note of the combined malt, bitterness and burned tastes.
The Verdict:
Everything is toned down in order to not "offend" the weaker sex, and thus nothing becomes really appealing. It is an average beer that is fine to enjoy if you just want a beer. It feels mostly like an average ale with added hops to be honest. Not too much Stout´ness about it.
The Rating: 2.25 / 5.00
Looks very nice in the glass tho'
You've given me thirst now, besides browns are my favorite. Beautiful analysis.
Well thank you :-)
DO you have an idea as to how much oatmeal the recipe actually contains.
In fact, beers containing high amounts of oatmeal (30% and up) are described as being undrinkably bitter. There are stories of sailors refusing to sail out and threathening mutiny because they have oatmeal beer for rations...
Back in the early 20th century, most oatmeal stouts you could find contained about 0,1-5% of oatmeal, some beers being identical to the regular stout of the same brewery, just having a different label on the bottle.
These days those figures usually still apply.
I dont know that. I usually just go woth the tasting, so to not be too prejudiced