Sunday 27 October 2013

Craftsman Oatmeal Chocolate Stout

All the way from Blenheim, New Zealand comes Craftsman Oatmeal Chocolate Stout, a tasty offering from Renaissance Brewing Ltd. Craftsman comes in 500mL bottles and contains 4.9% alcohol. It pours a very dark brown--almost black--with a gleam of ruby, and comes topped with a thin but durable tan head.

Unfortunately, the label came off on the way home from the liquor store, so I didn't bother photographing the bottle.

Craftsman has a strong aroma of roasted chocolate, backed with an espresso charge. The flavour is very chocolatey. It definitely leans toward dark, high cacao chocolate. It also features some really delightful cafe mocha notes. There is even a decent hop profile stalking around the finish.


Just like quality chocolate, this stuff manages deft balance between sweet and bitter. I'm not always into chocolatey beers, but this brew works. It's rich and flavourful, but not too sweet.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

2 comments:

  1. Why are your reviews a year behind the times? I liked this beer but I can't pick it up at the LCBO because it was part of the Autumn 2012 release. I'm not criticizing but I have often wondered about that.

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    1. This is a totally solid critique. The reason is that I have a huge stack (100 or so) of reviews written but not yet typed. If I write up a review tomorrow, chances are it won't show up on the Bitter World until sometime next summer. This is sorta crappy for limited edition brews. Maybe I'll try to make a better effort to let one off beers jump the queue and get reviewed quicker. Thanks for the feedback!

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