Marooned On Hog Island

A bit of history on this beer: in Victorian England, pubgoers would eat oysters on the half-shell with their favorite (favourite) beer. How this evolved from eating oysters with beer to having oysters/oyster shells actually in the beer is murky at best. Back in the 1800s, many brewers found that oyster shells (rich in calcium carbonate) were a good clarifying agent for beers and started adding it to the wort. Some brewers just added the shells while others added the whole thing! With this history in mind, this oyster stout had hints of chocolate and lightly roasted malt notes. I didn’t detect any hop aromas, but that's okay for this style of beer. I didn’t get (nor was I expecting) any oyster or oyster-like flavors with this beer. For example, I didn’t get any sort of ‘briny’ flavors and/or minerally qualities from the oyster shells. The beer poured a dark brown (bordering on black) and had nice carbonation with small, tight bubbles. The initial flavors included coffee-like roasted malts and subtle hints of chocolate. Hop bitterness was medium that finished with a slight sweetness and dryness. The malt/hops were balanced nicely, with roasted malts dominating and hops playing a secondary role. The beer had a medium mouthfeel, body and carbonation. In the aftertaste it had a nice alcoholic warmth, which was smooth, creamy and lingered in the throat.