Another excellent brewery who will be representing at this year’s Brewer’s Plate, is Great Lakes. Great Lakes makes some basic beers, Red Leaf and Golden Horseshoe, as well as some excellent American-style brews, like Devil’s Pale Ale, Canuck Pale Ale, Miami Weisse, and a variety of other wonderful beers. Mike Lackey, their brewer, has also been making one-off batches on his own and with people for the monthly Project X events. These beers are often available in bottles at the event, and sometimes, Mike might pass you a bottle or two… This is one of those. I know Mike told me which event and with whom he made this, but I’ve totally forgotten. Chocolate Oatmeal stouts are beers that are being produced by a lot of Yank brewers, I will be interested to see what Mike made of this.
Chocolate Oatmeal Stout - Great Lakes Brewing Co.
From a 650ml Project X bomber, with a neck label identifying the the brew and abv, the beer pours an opaque black side-to-side, with a generous tan head. Aroma is noticeably chocolate, with hints of burnt sugar and rum sitting nicely underneath. There’s hints of something I only ever quantify as “oatmeal stout”. I’d really like a beer savant to tell me what this is. Whoa, taste is huge chocolate goodness, deep and bitter, very dry and cocoa-powdery. A bit of coffee and burnt sugar are there, but less than in the aroma. The big attraction is the chocolate, which is wonderfully complex. Hard to believe this is all from the grain bill. I’m noticing as it warms a bit, there is a note of mineral hop on the finish, a little different from the cocoa bitterness, just lovely. Mouthfeel is the usual creamy oatmeal stout body, but there is a fairly moderate carbonation that cuts it well. It’s probably a tad bit big to be called sessionable by most people, but I’m sure I’d have no trouble drinking a fair few of these. Shame it’s a Project X release, this is another one I would love to see in regular production.
I have no idea what Mike and the crew are sending over for the Brewer’s Plate, but suffice to say, it should be magical.
Cheers guys.
