Breckenridge Oatmeal Stout - My Microbrew Review

I'd never really heard of Breckenridge Brewery (based in Denver, Colorado). Strange, since I've tried to keep myself up to date and in the know about as many U.S. microbreweries as humanly possible. Well there is a Breckenridge Brewery and they are based in Denver (now I know).

I saw a few of their microbrew offerings recently in my local six and save and the only appealing looking one, judging by label alone, was the Breckenridge Brewery Dark Oatmeal Stout. Having had some very good oatmeal stouts in the past, and never having heard of this microbrewery I was anxious to give it a shot.

I poured my nicely chilled 12 ounce brown bottle into my nicely unchilled 16 ounce Dogfish Head pint glass. Just a haze of head barely graced the surface. I will admit, this was one dark brew however, just as the bottle label states. It was almost completely opaque even placing my glass directly to a 60 watt bulb. This was a little surprising, and more promising than the skiddish head on the brew.

Aroma, hmmmm....no real aroma here. Blindfold me, and put this up to my nose and I would just as easily guess you were holding a glass of water in front of me. That's a little disappointing. Boooooo!

Tasting this oatmeal stout, I became even more disappointed. I can deal without a lot of aromatic qualities in a beer if it redeems itself in flavor. But Breckenridge Brewery's Dark Oatmeal Stout didn't do that for me. Very thin, very watery, and very little in the way of any flavor brought my rating of this microbrew down to low levels. A little sourness present throughout gave me a reminder of a few lower quality oatmeal mash stouts I've tried in the past. No real malt presence, no coffee, chocolate or anything additional to prop this microbrew up a little more respectably.

My overall assessment, not knowing much about the brewery, is that this particular beer is either a new addition to this microbrewery's lineup, or they're just not interested in making a respectable craft beer oatmeal stout. Either that, or I just got a badly preserved bottle. I always cringe on giving any harsh reviews to any microbrewery and always have to keep in mind that a poorly shipped and stored bottle of even my favorite microbrew can taste horrible. It's a fine line to walk in the limited lifespan of a microbrew (not like a Bud that would probably taste the same in the can 10 years from now sitting in a constant 90 degree warehouse).

I will not entirely discount Breckenridge Brewery. I will pick up at least one other beer from their stable maybe on my next six pack excursion. Will let you know what I find if you care to know. In the mean time, I just can't include Breckenridge Brewery's Dark Oatmeal Stout on my "recommended" list for now.

You can check out more reviews of new microbrews and fun microbrew and craft beer related info at Microbrew Review or My Squidoo Lens. Check out Summer Microbrew too!