Here’s a beer you won’t find in your local liquor store: Ballast Point Sextant Oatmeal Stout. Well, you might if they offer growler fills, but the point is that this is a draft-only offering from Ballast Point. It is not sold in bottles or cans, at least not right now. So, when I saw it on tap at Taco mac, I ordered up a glass. Who knows when I would have a chance to try it again?
Ballast Point says:
Pours with abundant curtaining that settles into an opaque onyx color with red highlights and a thick beige head from the nitro treatment. Subtle aromas of a freshly made cappuccino, milk chocolate and roasted raw barley. Chocolate Malts and 20% Flaked Barley help build the cookie dough flavors and the velvety, silky smooth mouth feel. Medium body is balanced by one mid-boil addition of UK Fuggle Hops. This allows a smooth bitterness and more hop flavor to make its way into this Oatmeal Stout. Some earthy lavender flavors also are derived from the UK Fuggle hops and add to the slight hoppy aftertaste in this very drinkable ale. Our nitro treatment comes from using both carbon dioxide and nitrogen being dissolved into the beer. This creates tiny bubbles and a creamy texture when the beer is heavily agitated while being poured from a nitro tap.
Well, they do say a lot, don’t they? Ballast Point Sextant Oatmeal Stout has an alcohol content of 5.5% by volume with 24 IBUs. I paid $6.75 for an 11-ounce glass at Taco Mac.
That glass of Ballast Point Sextant Oatmeal Stout arrived jet-black in color with a compact but tightly packed tan head of foam and licorice and roast in the nose. Taking a sip, the beer has a silky smooth body from the oats and the nitrogen pour. It is mildy roasty with licorice notes, subtle coffee and chocolate, and to a degree reminiscent of an Irish Dry. Finishes roasty and clean with a light bitterness from the English hops.
Tasty indeed, Ballast Point Sextant Oatmeal Stout is well worth a try. Don’t pass it up if you see it on tap.
And remember, try a new beer today, and drink outside the box.
*Pricing data accurate at time of review or latest update. For reference only, based on actual price paid by reviewer.
(B)=Bottled
(D)=Draft