For years now, a popular perception about drinking habits and diet holds that “healthy” people drink wine. While it isn’t often stated explicitly, that carries the implication that beer is conversely less healthy. That perception may have begun with a piece on 60 Minutes in the early 90s, which outlined evidence that red wine could alleviate fatty buildup in arteries, thereby improving overall heart health. It’s common now to hear reporting on new studies that showcase a new health benefit to wine, but the same isn’t quite true for beer. While beer has been studied in similar ways with similarly positive health benefits recognized by researchers, our favorite beverage doesn’t seem to capture the public eye in the same way as wine when it comes to a healthy lifestyle.

This wasn’t always the case. As we mentioned in our post on sweet stouts, sweeter dark beer was thought to be a filling, healthy, and wholesome drink for all kinds of people in the late 1800s. Brewers add different kinds of sugar to beer for a wide variety of reasons. Most of those are molecules that yeast can use as a food source to create carbon dioxide and alcohol during fermentation. One in particular, lactose, cannot be used by saccharomyces yeast, and therefore remains in the finished beer after fermentation. This gives the finished pint a sweeter flavor and fuller body, both of which were prized during the dark beer boom.

Another way British brewers built body and richness in their beers during the nineteenth century was by adding oats to their grist. Oats contain a higher percentage of beta-glucans, water-soluble lipids, and proteins than barley. None of these compounds are fermentable either, so they all add to the body of the beer you’re drinking. The lipids are a particularly special addition from oats: being fatty substances, they lend a silkiness that, when combined with the fuller mouthfeel, create a uniquely creamy mouthfeel to this style. All of that means that when you drink one of these, it feels hearty, fulfilling, and warming…all associations we make with comfort foods as well.

Like most of the interesting styles, this beer fell out of fashion in the early and mid-twentieth century, even in its homeland. When the beer writer Michael Jackson mentioned oatmeal stout in his 1977 book The World Guide to Beer, it peaked the interest of an American importer, who commissioned a beer to fit the style from the brewers at Samuel Smith. That beer, which can still be found in bottles draped in gold foil all over the US, was one of my personal gateways into craft beer during college, and it’s a style we at Black Flannel continue to love as a hearty and approachable dark beer.

We’ve pushed the boundaries on the traditional English versions of the style to create our oatmeal stout, Avena Obscura. We boosted the ABV a bit, loaded the grain bill with oats, and gave it a rich bittersweet chocolate with carefully selected roasted malts. The result is a creamy, full-bodied, chocolaty and lightly roasty beer that we’re excited to share with you.

Sláinte!