River Horse Brewing Company - Oatmeal Milk Stout

This winter seasonal beer pours an opaque black with a generous cap of brown foam. While there are plenty of black, roasty notes in the aroma, there’s a touch of sweet lactose which comes through to balance. On the palate, the malt core is well-constructed, delivering a nice amalgam of deep caramel, dark chocolate, and roasted malt, without the roast being too heavy-handed and veering off toward acrid astringency. This leaves room for the lactose (milk sugar), which is unfermentable, to add its characteristic sweetness. Oats increase a beer’s viscosity, as this brew’s super creaminess attests, and this beer is also unfiltered, further bolstering its body. The moderate sweetness set amidst big chocolaty, creamy notes makes this stout a treat on its own, but most desserts featuring chocolate and/or caramel, perhaps with vanilla ice cream, will make a great pairing. Cheers!

When it opened for business in 1996, River Horse Brewing Company was at the vanguard of New Jersey’s craft brewing renaissance. Founded by two homebrewing brothers in Lambertville, NJ, on the Delaware River, River Horse was named in reference to the hippopotamus, an animal whose name is derived from the Greek words for “horse of the river.” Thus, the hippo features whimsically in all of the brewery’s logos and beer label artwork.

In 2007, the original founders passed control of the brewery to current owners Chris Walsh and Glenn Bernabeo who had desired to leave their desk jobs for something with a bit more passion. In their words, “We were finance geeks living in a world without soul. Grinding it out everyday for a fee, wearing suits and kissing butt.” Since taking over ownership, the new duo has met much success, and by 2013 demand had reached the point that the original Lambertville location was just not working. That summer, River Horse moved their operations to a new facility in Ewing which is large enough to handle production of as much as 80,000 barrels per year – far above the 9500 they had been topping out at in Lambertville.

River Horse currently produces five year-round beers as well as seven seasonals, plus a few barrel-aged and sour offerings in waxed-dipped 750ml bottles. For more info about the brewery and tour schedules, contact them at 609-883-0890 or visit www.riverhorse.com.