If you’re at all familiar with the craft beer world, you’ve probably seen the term “oatmeal stout” before. It’s a common designation that simply means that, on top of the usual barley, the style includes a large percentage of oats in its mash. While that doesn’t necessarily make it taste like the oatmeal porridge you had for breakfast, it does create a creamier, smoother stout, which also has the roasted barley, coffee, and chocolate flavors you’d expect from a stout.
Popular in the 1800s and then largely gone by the mid-1900s, it wasn’t until Samuel Smith released an oatmeal stout back in 1978 that the style began to (re)gain popularity. Since then, the oatmeal stout has become popular enough that you could probably find a hundred or more if you looked hard enough.
Whatever your beer preference, November is a great time of year to dive into this historical style — hearty, warming, full-flavored and probably not as filling as most people imagine. To help get you started, this week I chose eight great oatmeal stouts (including the aforementioned Samuel Smith’s Oatmeal Stout) and ranked them based on flavor and balance. Keep reading to see them all.
8) Ninkasi Oatis
ABV: 7%
Average Price: $10.99 for a six-pack
Why This Beer?
Brewed with Nugget hops as well as 2-row, Chocolate malts, Vienna malts, roasted barley, and of course oats, Oatis is known for its roasted malt, chocolate, coffee, and light hops. This 7% ABV oatmeal stout is available year-round but shines in the fall.
Tasting Notes:
Coffee, chocolate, raisins, and roasted malts, but not much else. The palate continues this trend with more roasted coffee beans, dark chocolate, and the addition of slightly herbal, earthy hops. Overall, not a bad beer by any means, just not very exciting. Fairly simple.
Bottom Line:
This beer isn’t lacking anything specifically. It’s just a little lighter in flavor than I’d hope for an oatmeal stout. A little watery for my liking.
7) Rogue Shakespeare Stout Nitro
ABV: 5.7%
Average Price: $12.99 for a four-pack of 16-ounce cans
Why This Beer?
You might wonder why a beer from Oregon named itself after William Shakespeare. Well, Rogue Ales was originally founded in Ashland, home to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. One of the first beers ever brewed by Rogue, this beer has been available since 1988.
Tasting Notes:
Aromas of dark chocolate, coffee beans, roasted malts, light smoke, and pine needles greet your nostrils. The palate is all vanilla, roasted malts, coffee, and dark chocolate. It’s flavorful, but a little one-dimensional. It could use a little more balance between malts and hops.
Bottom Line:
If you’re looking for a smooth, roasted malt, coffee-filled beer without any other major distinguishable flavors, this is the beer for you. Otherwise, keep looking.
6) Samuel Smith’s Oatmeal Stout
ABV: 5%
Average Price: $4.99 for a 550ml bottle
Why This Beer?
Samuel Smith’s Oatmeal Stout is the OG oatmeal stout, having its genesis in the late 1970s. This 5% ABV stout is made with traditional ingredients including well water, cane sugar, malted barley, hops, roasted malts, and oatmeal.
Tasting Notes:
Complex aromas of dark chocolate, coffee, burnt sugar, roasted malts, and sweet oats draw you in. Drinking it reveals more coffee, bitter chocolate, roasted malts, and dried fruits. It’s creamy, silky, and easy to drink. Its only downfall is that it’s a little thin.
Bottom Line:
Perhaps it’s because of the low ABV, but Samuel Smith’s Oatmeal Stout is a bit muted and thin for a fall beer.
5) Oliver Brewing BMore Breakfast
ABV: 6%
Average Price: $12 for a six-pack
Why This Beer?
You might not have ever heard of Oliver Brewing BMore Breakfast, but you definitely should. This Baltimore-based brewery makes a variety of high-quality beers and one of its best is its 6% ABV oatmeal stout, loaded with coffee, chocolate, and roasted malts.
Tasting Notes:
The nose centers on roasted malts, caramel, dark chocolate, and a ton of freshly-brewed coffee aromas. The bittersweet flavor profile is filled with more roasty, toasty malts, toffee, very light coffee, bitter chocolate, and some licorice. Great beer but could definitely use more coffee flavor as it’s listed as a breakfast beer.
Bottom Line:
This is a creamy, chocolate, and roasted malt-filled stout. The only downfall is that while it starts off with a big coffee aroma, the palate doesn’t continue that trend.
4) Elysian Dragonstooth Stout
ABV: 8.1%
Average Price: $11.99 for a six-pack
Why This Beer?
This bold, 8.1% ABV imperial oatmeal stout is brewed with Pale, Munich, Chocolate, and C-77 malts as well as roasted barley and roasted oats. It gets its floral, slightly bitter flavor from the addition of Magnum, Cascade, and Centennial hops.
Tasting Notes:
Roasted malts, caramel, bready malts, and lightly floral hops are prevalent on the nose. While there isn’t a ton going on with the nose, the palate makes up for it with sweet malts, freshly-baked bread, roasted malts, brown sugar, caramel, vanilla, dried fruits, all with a gentle, semi-sweet bitterness at the very end that leaves you craving more.
Bottom Line:
Elysian Dragonstooth Stout is a beer that proves that less is more. It’s very simple on the nose and palate, but that totally works for this beer. It’s bold, rich, robust, and heavily warming on a cool fall night.
3) Great Lakes Ohio City
ABV: 5.4%
Average Price: $11.99 for a six-pack
Why This Beer?
If you’re a fan of Great Lakes Brewing, you probably enjoy its Edmund Fitzgerald porter and its wintry Christmas Ale, but we suggest starting fall right with its Ohio City oatmeal stout. This roasty, warming seasonal beer is brewed with 2-row, Crystal 77, Chocolate, and Black malts as well as flaked oats. It gets its hoppy bitterness from the addition of Willamette hops.
Tasting Notes:
On the nose, you’ll find bitter chocolate, butterscotch, wintry spices, coffee, and roasted malts. The palate is a symphony of roasted coffee beans, toasted malts, caramel, vanilla, and lightly bitter hops. The finish is creamy and semi-sweet.
Bottom Line:
Great Lakes Ohio City is a great example of an oatmeal stout done right. It’s slightly sweet, slightly bitter, and effortlessly creamy.
2) Anderson Valley Barney Flats
ABV: 5.8%
Average Price: $10.99 for a six-pack
Why This Beer?
While Anderson Valley Barney Flats Oatmeal Stout is available year-round, it drinks the best in the fall. Brewed with oats and a variety of malts, it gets its bitter, earthy, herbal flavor from the addition of Chinook and Northern Brewer hops.
Tasting Notes:
On the nose, you’ll find aromas of dried fruits, freshly baked bread, roasted malts, coffee beans, and rich chocolate. The palate follows suit with candied cherries, sticky toffee, bitter chocolate, and lightly floral, bitter hops tying everything together. The finish is a velvety creamy mix of sweetness and bitterness.
Bottom Line:
This award-winning beer is sublimely well-balanced with roasted malts, chocolate, coffee, and dried fruits pairing nicely with Northwest hops.
1) East Brother Oatmeal Stout
ABV: 5.4%
Average Price: $10.99 for a four-pack of 16-ounce cans
Why This Beer?
Richmond, California’s East Brother is a brewery you should know about. They don’t rely on flashy labels, they rely on well-made, flavorful beer. This is especially true with its award-winning East Brother Oatmeal Stout. This English-style oatmeal stout is known for its mix of roasted malts, chocolate, and coffee.
Tasting Notes:
A nose of sweet oats, dried fruits, chocolate, coffee beans, toffee, and floral hops greet you before your first sip. Chocolate, coffee, and roasted malts continue into the palate with raisins, bready malts, licorice, and oats making an appearance as well. The finish is creamy, sweet, and memorable.
Bottom Line:
Nobody will fault you for grabbing a sixer of oatmeal stout made by a big-name brand, but we challenge you to try beer from a smaller brewery like East Brother from time to time instead. You’ll be happy you did.