Name: Fat Dog (Imperial Oatmeal Stout)

Brewer: Stoudt’s

Style: Imperial Oatmeal Stout

Vintage: 2007

Cellared On: July 13th, 2007

Original Tasting: July 19th, 2007

Imagine seeing a cute little monkey in a zoo. He’s sitting there all nice and happy, doing funny monkey things. Then WHAM! - a huge chimp jumps right on the little monkey and starts beating the living crap out of him.

When you try one of these Imperial Oatmeal Stouts, you’re the little monkey. This beer is the big one beating the snot out of you.

As you might guess, I found this beer harsh. It pours very dark, with a much fizzier head then I was expecting. I get a very strong, almost burnt malt taste, even reminding me of charcoal. Chocolate is very strong, and there is a hint of sweetness there also. Bitter aftertaste too.

I found this very hard to drink.

Six Month Tasting: January 15th, 2008

Six months have really transformed this beer. Much of the harshness I experienced earlier was gone; I was definitely tasting a much wider array of flavors this time around. There were big roasted malts combined with a much more prominent caramel/molasses sweetness. Hints of chocolate and bitter hops were there also. The harsh taste came back on the finish, hitting me with a bit of burnt toast astringency (which was actually pleasing this time around).

Unlike my first tasting, I found this very easy to drink!

One Year Tasting: August 12th, 2008

The intensity of this brew has really started to fade. Smooth roasted malts are prominent with lots of chocolate flavors. There’s still a very nice coffee-like bitterness that builds up as you drink. Almost no astringency this time around. There’s also a slight sour flavor at the end. I can’t tell if it was there all along, just now revealed by the fading flavor, or if it’s a new developement.

It’s still a great drink, but I think it’s starting to slope down.

Cellar Outlook: Oatmeal Stout’s have a bad reputation for their cellaring performance, but since this one is much higher in ABV% then normal, I think it has a fighting chance. I’m hoping the astringency calms down a bit after a long rest.

Six Month Cellar Outlook: This beer still seems like it has places to go. I’m thinking I’ll see more intensifying of the caramel sweetness, and probably even more mellowing out of the harsh flavors.

One Year Cellar Outlook: I expect the flavors to continue their slide down in intensity. I suspect we’ll find the sweet spot for aging this brew is somewhere between 6 to 12 months.

Next Tasting: July 2009