Herevana – #199 – Beer Baroness – Last Minute Stout

There are sometimes beers that you have to buy regardless, particularly if it’s something special like ‘Vintage Series’, or I’m an easy mark, hard to tell. So I find myself on a Saturday that wasn’t as exciting as it otherwise might be I found myself reaching into the fridge where this has been hiding for a few weeks, part of the ageing process.

Beer Baroness of course make the Beer Baroness Last Minute Stout, an they do that in  Christchurch, Canterbury, 🇳🇿 New Zealand, this is a Stout – Oatmeal, Barrel Aged of 8.4%

Fittingly these are small bottles, adding to that feeling of luxury/quality/care, and a suitably delicate glass is called for, the standard stout one.

Bottled 19th November 2023 – and the notes indicate that I “could” cellar this for upto 2 years, Almost half way there…..

Chocolate coffee aroma when you open the bottle to a vigorous hiss. A deep black pour with a worthy amout of thick off white head that looks like it’s settled in for the trip. Aroma in the glass is a milky chocolate.

The taste is surprisingly vanilla forward, I’m surprised at the amount of it, not that its there. The beer is also quite fruity and without being overly full in the mouthfeel, the bitterness from the roasting toasting is quite wonderful, delicate and for me, right now exactly right.

As you roll this around in the mouth the vanilla really does the heavy carrying and adds sweetness, the coconut is shy, and harder to find, but this is rather delicious and easy to drink, a thoroughly enjoyable beer.

The Pdubyah-o-meter rates this as a 9 on the arbitrary number scale. It has everything from nice art work to brilliant pour, loverly aroma to sweet tastes, there’s little to fault.

Music: Nick Cave is interesting, I’m not convinced that I enjoy them, or if indeed they are any good at all, but the popularity and enthusiasm of others compels me. I think I feel the same about Nick Cave as I feel about Opera and Jazz.

Herevana beers are those I drink at home, I’m not at some beer festival, like, for instance, Beervana, but am just in my kitchen, usually, dining room table, sometimes, or outside, occasionally, where I can take an average picture and write in real time about the beer that I’ve invested in, both in a monetary and emotional way.

Philip himself.

Sometimes the best ideas come at the last minute. Our robust Oatmeal coconut and vanilla stout has big bold roasty espresso notes wrapped in the oaky vanilla character that can only come from time relaxing in a bourbon barrel
Brewers Notes

Stout – Oatmeal

The Oatmeal Stout is a medium brown to black colored, full-bodied, roasty, malty ale with a complementary oatmeal flavor. The sweetness, balance, and oatmeal impression can vary considerably. Light use of oatmeal may give a certain silkiness of body and richness of flavor, while heavy use of oatmeal can be fairly intense in flavor with an almost oily mouthfeel. Most are like a cross between an Extra Stout and a Sweet Stout with oatmeal added. Several variations exist, with the sweeter versions more like a Sweet Stout with oatmeal instead of lactose, and the drier versions more like a more nutty, flavorful Extra Stout.