Nomadic: Dark Horse – Imperial Oatmeal Stout (South Korea: Imperial Stout: 10.5% ABV)
Visual: Opaque black with a surprisingly large inch of creamy brown head.
Nose: Muesli. Golden syrup cakes. Peanuts. Mild coffee granules. Subtle apricot.
Body: Toffee syrup. Charring. Dry roasted peanuts. Dry rice. Subtle apricot. Light chalk. Fudge.
Finish: Charred bitterness. Bitter cocoa. Dry roasted peanuts. Dry brown rice. Bitter cocoa. Bitter black coffee. Toasted teacakes.
Conclusion: Nomadic was one of the more interesting and experimental breweries I encountered in my travel around South Korea. This caught my eye, a big imperial stout, oatmeal impy stout no less, but made with organic Korean rice syrup.
Rice can often be used as a cost cutting measure, but based on the other beers Nomadic make, I presume that is not the case here – So a very interesting one.
So, how is it?
It feels rougher than most imperial stouts I have had, a touch of chalk there. Also, I really tried to avoid using the term “dry rice” in the notes, as obviously I knew rice syrup had been used to make it and it seemed too on the nose, but that really is how it feels in the mouth. Though that is against (and yes, again I know this is too on the nose when it is made with rice syrup) a smooth syrup touch, which helps make it more manageable. It is rough touched, but despite that quite drinkable.
Flavour wise when drunk cool it is a bit empty. Charred and nutty. As it warms a quite bitter character comes out with raw bitter coffee and chocolate styling, not too intense but nicely there.
Overall as a beer it is fine, rough but fine, with hints of a more exciting beer if they could just polish it up a bit. There are subtle apricot hints early on, but quickly lost. The mouthfeel mix of slick to rough is fascinating. So, yeah as a beer it is fine, but it feels like a prototype for something a lot more exciting which I can but hope is yet to come.
Background: I grabbed a can of this while I was in Jeonju in South Korea on holiday. I was enjoying the beer I had at Nomadic’s brewpub and intrigued by their bigger beers, such a triple IPA, they had available – but since I was having a night of drinking Makgeolli rice wine after, I didn’t want to go too hard there. Thankfully they had this imperial stout available in can for take out, so grabbed it and drank it when home in the UK. I love the kind of grimy dark horse art on the can. Oddly this is made with Organic Korea Rice Syrup. I have seen rice used as an adjunct before, but not listed as rice syrup. An unusual touch I was interested to see what effect it would have. Especially as I normally see rice used in lagers and similar, described as giving a smoother feel. Not something I normally see for impy stouts, especially not oatmeal stouts which normally are building up the mouthfeel with the oats. Music wise I wanted big, so went with Spirit Box: Eternal Blue. Got into them after hearing their Babymetal collab and loving their solo stuff.
