Bootleg Oatmeal Stout

As previously noted, I haven't been too impressed with Bootleg brewing of late - could a beer in one of my favourite styles turn things around?

In short - not quite. This beer pours thin and headless, not a good start although the hue is nicely opaque. The aroma similarly is a step or two short of truly enjoyable beer, showing a bit of spikiness and slighly clumsy notes in there somewhere. There's aniseed and licorice in the nose, which may be nice in a more rounded beer but here it comes off as slightly unbalanced and almost unintentional.

Taste-wise the mouthfeel is too watery to really score points, and the taste carries a little too much licorice for my liking. There's none of that delicious silky character or rounded taste that oatmeal typically adds, and I can't say it's a particularly good example of the style.

I wanted this to be good, but I find myself really not liking it a great deal - it strikes me as a beginner sort of effort and just not quite up there in terms of quality. It would be great to see Bootleg build on this and produce a top quality beer in this style in future. 4.5

Bootleg Black Market Black IPA

Felt a bit dirty returning to Bootleg after pretty much swearing off their core range after a disappointing last couple of trips south.

This is enough to rekindle an interest. In short it's like Kooinda lite - clearly a similar recipe but less alcohol, less developed mouthfeel, less round yet pronounced flavours, less quality overall. Nothing really wrong with it as such.. it's just lacking polish and dare.

Still a reasonable effort at the style, and a fine accompaniment to a nice outdoor dinner. Grudging respect. 7.0