I picked up a bottle of Lefty's Maple Oatmeal Stout from Ryan and Casey liquor store in June on our way home from vacationing in New Hampshire.
I'm pointing out when I bought it because this stout is brewed seasonally and is available from November to March. I bought it in June.
And then, after I bought it, I sort of forgot about it.
I discovered this bottle in the back of my fridge the other day and I popped it open. It's never been out of refrigeration and it's a hearty stout, so I wasn't overly worried about it being funked.
Maple Oatmeal Stout (10% ABV) pours a deep cherry red that is dense and black in the glass. The head is small and fades to a layer of bubbles circling the edge of the glass.
The aroma is roasty malts, subtle maple, and a touch of booziness.
The taste was interesting. Gently sweet maple and dark roasted malts morphed into kind of a tart sour creating a sweet-n-sour dynamic that I've not experienced before. The sour hangs on through the end. You can really feel the alcohol in this brew, my tongue was all tingly. However, it tastes strong but not boozy.
Another interesting thing is the initial mouth feel was creamy like I'd expect from an oatmeal stout but then that changed too into something cleaner and smoother.
Personally, I didn't care for the tartness of the beer. It didn't taste wrong, per se, like the beer was spoiled or off. It was just weird for me. I guess I was kind of disappointed, only because I was expected more of a full creamy maple-y experience.
My husband, on the other hand, liked it and thought it made the beer unique.
I don't overly like sours, he does. So, this is one of those cases where it really is a matter of taste.
Overall: good
I did some looking around at other reviews and we are not the only ones to get a tart/sour flavor from this beer. I asked the brewer for comment.
Note from the brewer: Age was DEFINITELY a factor in your sour results. That beer was expired. . . The other reviews that you found similar were also from people with expired beers. Some stores had left over bottles that were past due, and they never removed them. We've been doing our best to remove all old beers but its out of our hands for people who hold on to them. Our beer is unfiltered and unpasteurized. Some folks also let their beers sit warm for months in a closet instead of a fridge and that also damages our product.
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