Review: Sleeping Giant Skull Rock Oatmeal Stout

Today's review is Skull Rock Oatmeal Stout by Thunder Bay's Sleeping Giant Brewing. Skull Rock is an Oatmeal Stout brewed with rolled oats, which gives it a little extra body, paired with roasting and chocolate for a well-rounded dark beer.

From the label: Six different malts, toasted oat silkiness and a single aromatic English Hop deliver balanced complexity. A slightly sweet stout with a rich grain and chocolate flavour. 5.1% ABV

Appearance: Thick, hefty black-as-the-night stout with very heavy amount of burnt caramel head on top - it took me quite a while to wait for the head to diminish a bit so I could pour more beer and actually get a photo of the beer. The head does diminish gradually, as you can see in this picture, to leave behind a layered lacing on the side of the glass, while the colour gradually turns to a yellowish beige.

Aroma: Sweet stout with notes of caramel, oats, and moderate notes of roasted malt to give it a bit of a coffee aroma to it. There's a decent amount of dark chocolate in the beer, a bit of an earthiness, and even a hint of a floral hop presence at the end.

Taste: Nice, sweet stout with a bit of dark chocolate sweetness to it, notes of oatiness to it, roasted malt to give off a bit of a bitter coffee flavour to it, a good amount of caramel, and an earthiness at the very end. It's a bit bitter for an oatmeal stout but has a good deal of oatiness to it to give it a bit of a cereal vibe. Rich, dark, roasted.

Overall Thoughts: Decent oatmeal stout with a nice amount of caramel sweetness to it, moderately bitter and a tad earthy. Bit of dark chocolate and definitely got a good amount of heft on it so it's not something to drink quickly as it hits the stomach pretty quickly, hard!