Tenaya Creek has released a new bottled beer to the market: Hauling Oats. Formally known simply as ‘Oatmeal Stout’ when it was on tap at the brewery. When I first heard that Tenaya Creek was going to be bottling their oatmeal stout, I was ecstatic. Being a fan of stouts, this was actually one of the first beers I tried from Tenaya Creek when I first visited their brewery a couple of years ago. This was also the first beer of theirs that I enjoyed so much, that I bought a growler of it to share with friends at a party I held.

There is an old myth that the darker the beer, the higher alcohol content the beer has. Or the darker the beer is, the heavier it is. In case you were not aware, both of these myths are flat out wrong, and this beer is a perfect example of a dark beer that is neither high in alcohol or excessively heavy (however, if what you’re looking for is a dark, heavy, alcoholic beer, look no further than Hauling Oats big brother, Tenaya Creek’s Imperial Stout. Release will probably be later this winter).

Hauling Oats is extremely drinkable. Regardless of the fact that it is being released in bottles during the fall, it was on tap at the brewery all summer, and was just as refreshing then as it is now.

The aroma coming off of this beer is of dark chocolate and iced coffee. The flavor is like a morning coffee, with the bitterness lingering in the long aftertaste. There is a little bit of an acidic bite in the finish, similar to the one found in coffee. In this case, it comes from the dark roasted malts.

This is a refreshing, light bodied beer that’s perfect all year round. It’s available in bottles all around town, (I bought a bottle at the Las Vegas BLVD Whole Foods), and also on tap at the brewery.