REVIEW #52: Oyster Stout (Whitstable Brewery)

Pours jet black with a rusty tan head. Blackcurrant and savoury barley aroma. Nicely balanced between sweet and dry up front. The finish leans towards the dry with a prominent kilned grain flavour. Delicately hopped and full bodied. Oyster Stout is a very nice stout; its not as creamy-smooth as Guinness (a good thing in my view) and has more of a phenolic finish and burnt barley kick. Good stuff but the bottle is too small at 250ml; I need a pint at least! Oh, and no oysters in this one.

Whitstable, a charming seaside town in Kent, just up the road from Canterbury is perhaps best known for its oysters... or possibly for being the home of late Hammer horror acting legend Peter Cushing? Either way, its Oyster Stout does not feature any oysters unfortunately but I imagine makes a good accompaniment to them. Whitstable brewery is situated right on the sea front and produces a pilsner, a pale ale, a wheat beer & raspberry wheat beer in addition to its oyster stout. Their beers are available in Asdas and Waitroses local to the area, though I happened upon a bottle in Selfridges, Birmingham!

• MALTS: dark & unmalted roast barley
• HOPS: ?
• IBU: ?
• ABV: 4.5%`

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