As usual Flying Dog’s Oyster Stout comes beautifully dressed by Ralph Steadman.
Their bottles always look great.
Unfortunately inside this bottle there’s a bit of a weak beer from this brewery.
Everything in here’s just a little bit watery, a little bit limp.
I mean, you can see through it as you pour.
It’s a thin coffee brown rather than a thick stouty black.
The smell is stewed fruits with hints of chocolate and coffee which is pleasant and the flavours are really rather nice with a dark chocolate body, stewed plums, tamarinds and honey and a big autumnal and very American deep red hop leafiness.
But this is a stout that’s not very stout.
There’s just no weight to it and so it very quickly starts to feel thin, vapid, lifeless.
Or perhaps I was just expecting too much?