Is this oyster stout fresh?: My Turn - Aidan by Lakefront Brewery

I am finally caught up on my salt & vinegar chips reviews and this post will get me caught up on beer reviews.

Aidan is Lakefront's - what? - 800th entry in their My Turn series? Well, maybe not quite that many but I am happy to see that it continues nonetheless. It has turned out some tasty brews and is the only way to get the venerable Milwaukee brewery to brew a smoke beer. "Smoked" and "rye" on the label drew immediate interest from me and I ogled the 6-pack with a male beer gaze. I mean, these are the two best things you can do to a beer. But what about that "oyster"?

Pulverized oyster shells were used here, not the meaty bits. Chemistry dictates that the calcium carbonate in the shells aids in clarifying beer and the practice dates back to the late 19th century, if AI is to be believed. The calcium carbonate gets proteins and yeast, which can make a beer cloudy, to coagulate and settle to the bottom of a brewing tank where they can easily be separated from the precious clear elixir.

Huh.

So do the shells add any flavor of the ocean? Lakefront says it adds a "subtle mineral quality". Interesting.

If memory serves, Aidan came out over the winter and my can had best by date of 04May2026 so I squeezed this in just under the wire.

My pour produced a big, tan head that had true staying power. The liquid was a deep, dark brown and admitted no light to pass through it. I don't recall the last time I saw a brew as Stygian as this one.

 

I see an oyster stout

And I want it brewed up black

 

Well that makes about as much sense as clarifying a beer that one cannot even see into. Ha ha! Who am I to question the folks at Lakefront?

 

I assume the oyster shells did their thing and clarified the beer but we'll never know. The aroma was roasty with a bit of sweetness that was redolent of haw flakes.

 

Taking a sip I found that it had a nice bit of fizz to it. The body was light-medium which took me by surprise as I figured a 7.1% A.B.V. stout would be on the heavier side. While I sampled it more or less straight out of the refrigerator, I found that the key to mining Aidan's vein of smoky rye deliciousness was to let it warm up.

 

This is something I need to work on with ales. I've gotta practice letting them warm up a bit instead of immediately consuming them in a sipping frenzy like that great white shark nomming on poor Chrissie Watkins.

 

Once I let my glass of Aidan enjoy a little bit of the temperate temps of spring, it took on many wonderful flavors. A general roasty taste was joined by milk chocolate giving a solid stouty base. A little stone fruit, some all-too mild smoke, and a hint of sweetness added to the mix. The rye wasn't spicy to my taste but rather is was earthy. I am beginning to suspect that rye becomes "spicy" in beer via melding with hops in a certain way. When I sup a Roggenbier such as, say, Tippy Toboggan, the rye has a mellow earthiness to it, a grainy flavor less sweet than wheat but not a sharp peppery one or a brisk turpene-like burst. As for the hops, they had a nice herbal aspect to them and let my tongue know they were there but the were not overpowering.

 

The grainy flavors lingered a bit on the finish and, as they faded, some dark roast coffee came into the picture before the herbal hop flavors came in. Bitterness and dryness were both middle of the road and made for a satisfying denouement.

 

Beyond wishing the smokiness had been a bit more prominent, this was one tasty brew. I was surprised that the malts didn't seem to add any bitterness as most American stouts (& porters too) generally have a fuliginous flavor from black malts or whatever kind of deep, black, burnt malts they use. Instead, Aidan had a nice, rounded roasty taste. Was this the result of the types of grains used? Or did the oyster shells have something to do with it? Honestly, I didn't catch that promised "subtle mineral quality". Maybe it was really subtle. Or perhaps that rounded malt quality is also known as a subtle mineral quality. After all, the both have the word "quality" in them.

 

Regardless, Aidan's malty profile was simply delicious. Roastiness, rye, and smoke made for a luscious pas de trois. Plus sweetness was held at bay and the delightfully light and nimble body belied the fairly high booze content.

 

Aidan was a great treat for me and I hope it's not too long before the My Turn series yields another brew with smoky malt in it.

 

Junk food pairing: If you have any Aidan lying around, drink it up for heaven's sake! And pair it with a bag of Mrs. Fisher's Dark potato chips. The extra sugars in the spuds yields more Maillard goodness and allowing you to drown in roasted gluttony.