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Saturday, March 30, 2013

113. Ballast Point Sextant Nitro Oatmeal Stout


A couple of nights ago, I found myself back at Tyler's Taproom, but this time I was having a few brews with some coworkers instead of having date night.  I took this opportunity to try two more new beers that I haven't had a chance to have yet, and Ballast Point Sextant was one of them.  It ended up only being one beer, as I had picked up an Abita Root Beer and was hoping that it was alcoholic root beer.  Nope!  Good root beer, but definitely disappointed.  Only one beer to review!  Reading the description in the beer menu, it had me intrigued and I just had to give it a try.  Ballast Point (http://www.ballastpoint.com) is based out of California, and there are plenty of great breweries in the golden state, so I'll spread the love and sample from each for the time being.    

I had the benefit of the nitro-tap.  Beer was served to me in your standard pint, with a half finger of white foam on the top that wasn't letting up anytime soon.  Dark brown in color, it looked very much like a Guinness Stout.  A lot of high hopes with this beer!  Light aromas of cocoa and coffee, with some roasted malts.  I was hoping for more pop in the nose, but maybe it wouldn't be indicative of the taste.

Unfortunately, the aroma was indicative of the taste.  The majority of the taste was bland coffee, with the cocoa notes barely showing up.  It had a sour kick to it, much like coffee, which I didn't really appreciate.  I was hoping that the oats would cut that acidic taste out, but it didn't.  It was weird, since the oats did help the beer with the creaminess, but at the same time, I was finding the beer to be too watery.  Light bodied, it had a decent mouthfeel, with little carbonation, probably because of the nitro-tap style.  Maybe it's better if it's not served through the nitro-tap, but I found myself to be disappointed with this one.  

Grade: D+
Price Paid: $5.50 (16 oz draught)

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