Quick Hit--Oatmeal and Pumpkin in a Stout?

Stopped into Basil T's in Red Bank tonight to meet two business associates for dinner. As you know, Mike Sella (formerly of Uno's in Metuchen) has been brewing there since last summer. Now in the fourteen plus years I've known Mike, I've had every one of his beers. The guy can brew, for sure. But I've never had a beer from him like the one I had tonight--an Oatmeal Pumpkin Stout. And that's because this is the first time he's ever made one.

But I sure hope it's not the last, because this stout was delicious. Roasty, toasty--and spicy--in the nose, smooth on the palate and solid in the finish, this one's a winner. I tasted clove, nutmeg, cinnamon and, of course, pumpkin. But there were other flavors that were balanced nicely to make this a most memorable beer.

Might be worth a trip down the GSP at Exit 109 to get a growler for your Christmas dinner and attendant company. You Italian folks can even have it on Christmas Eve with the Seven Fishes. I had mine with a delicious shrimp risotto dish and it worked surprisingly well. That would make the second time in ten days I've married pumpkin and shrimp and enjoyed their connubial bliss. The first was at last week's Uno's dinner.

Anyway, it appears that Iron Mike Sella is flexing his creative muscles in his new digs, and that's good news.