So a little while back I went to our local BJ’s Brewhouse shortly after my birthday, and tried out their beer sampler (as well as a fucking delicious spicy spaghetti and meatballs), and discovered that I really liked their porter and stout beers.  So this called for a trip to the nearest BevMo!  Initially I had wanted to try out that imperial stout that Kyle wrote an article about a while back, but I decided to talk to one of the experts there and after about 20 minutes of him walking me through several aisles of beers from around the world, pointing out the various stouts and porters that they stocked and what he knew and thought about them, I eventually decided on one he said was one of his favorites.  Firestone Walker Brewing Company’s “Velvet Merlin,” oatmeal stout.

Oatmeal? Does that mean I can drink this for breakfast?

As you can see, the packaging is pretty amusing; a lion fighting a bear. I mean, you shouldn’t judge a beer by its cover, but this one is nice enough. I’d give it a B.

One of the major factors in my choosing this beer was its price. While Old Rasputin was $7.45 for four bottles (WHAT) at BevMo, this was only $6.99 for a six pack. Stouts and porters obviously tend to be known as “designer” beers, and as such brewing companies can get away with charging ridiculous amounts of money for them, however this Firestone beer is pretty reasonably priced, and as such I’d give it an A for cost.

First thing anyone should do when opening a new beer, is to give it a big whiff to take in the scent of what this beer may soon offer to the taste buds. I, on the other hand, went straight to gulping it down straight from the bottle. Fortunately is is a fairly subdued tasting beer. Initially there is a slight hint of hops, with a somewhat chocolatey aftertaste. If I hadn’t known oats were involved in the making of this beer I wouldn’t have guessed, but if I think hard after a good sip I think I can taste a bit of an oat-y flavor.

After finishing the first bottle, I decided to have some in a glass, but since my beer glass of choice is 24oz. I ended up having two more of the bottles, because it needs to full of course. This time I decided to take it a bit slower and take in the flavor and scents and try to experience the beer more intimately. Really, though, the beer doesn’t have a very strong odor, and the difference between drinking from the bottle and from a glass is negligible. Really, it seems to have the experience of any ordinary beer, just really dark versus the yellow or amber of the piss I’m typically drinking.

Overall it’s a pretty smooth beer, but not terribly exciting. Which for a stout, I suppose this is sort of a good thing; but on the other hand, at only 5.5% alcohol is not surprising, and is pretty tame for a stout. One thing I like is that there’s no overpowering hoppy flavor. On the whole, however, it didn’t quite live up to how delicious an experience as my first go-round with a stout turned out. I’m going to give it a B- in the flavor category.

Haven’t eaten anything with mine so far, but I’m planning on making Spaghetti later and I can imagine the two would compliment each other fairly well (and may update this post to reflect my opinions afterward), but would imagine it would compliment a fairly wide range of meals or snacks. Drinking this beer I can see it making a good, cost effective gift for the casual beer lover for a special occasion, or since it’s a limited edition beer it would be a great for the holidays in particular. Three bottles in, I can’t see it being a horrible thing to get drunk off of, but there are certainly other cheaper, equally tasty beers that would get the job done as well.

I suppose, with my limited experience with stouts and porters, I’d give it a B- or a C+ overall—For beer in general, I’d give it a straight B since I didn’t hate it on first taste, and it is a generally friendly beer while also having a slightly more sophisticated taste than normal.

Definitely planning on continuing this quest, and hope to write about my future adventures with this wonderful world of liquid elixirs!