Hey all, thanks for coming by! Hope you're all having a great weekend. I thought I would try and sneak in some beer notes on this Saturday night. As an after dinner treat, I am opening a bottle of Firestone Walker Brewing Company's Velvet Merlin. Velvet Merlin is an oatmeal stout, and is released in the winter months as a seasonal beer. Time for a drink...

Firestone Walker Velvet Merlin

Velvet Merlin

Oatmeal Stout

5.5% ABV

27 IBUs

Bottled on January 8, 2013

12 oz. bottle poured into my Ithaca Beer Co. pint glass





Firestone Walker Velvet Merlin

Firestone Walker Velvet Merlin pours black with a little bit of red around the sides when held up to the light. There is a one finger width tan white head which recedes fairly quickly. The aroma and flavor are both of roasted malt, milk chocolate and coffee beans. It drinks very easily, and is not too heavy. The carbonation is light.





Overall : Firestone Walker Velvet Merlin is fairly solid. It's a good beer, but there is really nothing that makes it stand out from other great stouts that are on the market. I'm glad I tried it, and would drink it again if someone offered it to me, but I probably won't be going out to buy it in the bottle again. I would like to try it on tap though.





Have you had Velvet Merlin? What did you think of it? Let me know in the comments!





Check out my review of another Firestone Walker beer:



