Off Color Dino S'Mores

Breewed By: Off Color Brewing in Chicago, IL

Purchased: 12oz bottle from a 4-pack bought at Bottles & Cans in Chicago, IL; 2014

Style/ABV: American Stout, 10.5% 

Reported IBUs: 40

Tonight's beer is a certified shelf turd. I literally walked into the store, and found this turd sitting on shelves. AMA. About Off Color Brewing:

Off Color Brewing is a brewery founded in 2008 according to their Facebook, or 2014 according to their website, or 2013 if you follow their release party and the logical timeline. It really doesn't matter, I suppose. What you need to know is that this brewery is the brainchild of former Goose Island barrel guru, John Laffler, and former Two Brothers brewer, Dave Bleitner. The duo are both graduates of Siebel, and share a passion for brewing exotic, off-color beer. For more info, check out the brewery's ABOUT page.

The Dino S'Mores is another S'mores inspired imperial stout, which is a trend that I can get behind. I'm quite partial to Pipeworks' S'More Money, S'More Problems. The Dino S'Mores is brewed with Pale, Vienna, Wheat, Cara II, Extra Special, Flaked Oats, Dark Chocolate, Black, and Roasted Barley malts. This features only Nugget hops (a little Goozie Island inspiration?), and a bunch of adjuncts. The extra ingredients include: marshmallow, vanilla beans, molasses, graham flour, and cocoa nibs. My goodness, this sounds amazing. 

Off Color Dino S'Mores

If you need me to describe the appearance, you probably won't be able to track down this beer. Just sayin'. Black, opaque, brown head. OH NOES. There's legit lacing and alcohol legs tugging and glossing on my glass, and this smacks of chocolate bukkake. 

The aroma is surprisingly roasty and smokey. It actually -- and I know this is going to be some sacrilegious shit to say -- it actually kind of smells like the same roasted malts used in Rogue's Voodoo Doughnut series. As I dig into the aroma some more, I'm getting some of that graham cracker, chocolate, and vanilla. This does not scream S'Mores to me on the aroma, and to be honest, I think the Pipeworks' S'More Money, S'More Problems had a more S'more-forward aroma. 

This gets a lot better as it warms up, but try as I might I cannot find the direct S'Mores flavor. I'm getting a lot of nice roast (which is still reminiscent of the roast found in Rogue's Voodoo series), big vanilla bean, big cocoa, and lots of hints of campfire, complex roast, hints of roasted coffee, and some nice graham notes. It's GOOD. I really like this beer. The sweetness isn't ratcheted high enough to match that of a proper S'More, but in some respects I like that. This really grounds itself in that earthy roasted note...it's a note that when done well tastes really good, and again reminds me of coffee and complex dirt. 

At 10.5%, I'm not tasting any alcohol here. This is not overly sweet at all. That's both a good thing and bad thing. When I think of S'Mores, I think of layers upon layers of sugar. Even if you add that burnt marshmallow flavor to the mix, the S'More dessert is all about the sugar. The complex roasted notes in here are reminiscent of a campfire, dirt, and coffee...and I like it. But S'Mores? I don't think so. Still, this is fairly complex, and the palate depth is great. This is medium-bodied, and starts off with roast, dirt coffee; the mids roll into cocoa, vanilla, sugars, graham; the back end finishes with roast, dirt, ash, coffee, and lingering vanilla sugars. 

Rating: Above-Average (4.0/5.0 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Light Above-Average on this. I'm surprised to say that I prefer the S'More Money, S'More Problem if you are looking for that S'More flavor. In terms of a complex, roasty Imperial Stout...you could do much worse than this beer right here. I think this is very tasty, but the sugar needs to be ratcheted up to hit that dessert note. But some people (like myself) prefer less sugar....so for that crowd, this is going to be a certified hit.

Random Thought: I'm curious to see if future batches of this will taste different, and I'm happy to see this just sitting on shelves.