The second part of my CBC series on stouts ran last Friday (listen to it here). The first part laid out the history of stout, described the basic flavours and aromas and broke down the basic sub-styles (Dry, Sweet and American). This column went into the extra stuff you put into stouts – coffee, oats, chocolate and so on.

It wasn’t the wall-to-wall educational content my columns sometimes have, which gave host Peter Brown and I some time to play – which is nice for creating a relaxed feel. I got a chance to offer some props to local homebrewer Ernie Boffa for his boffo neapolitan stout, and explore the effects of coffee and chocolate and even port on stout. I declined the opportunity to describe bacon stout, however.

We sampled a St. Ambroise Oatmeal Stout – still my favourite oatmeal stout – and I did my best to avoid getting back into a debate about whether oatmeal stout is legitimately a sub-style of its own (I still think it is). My one regret is that I neglected to mention Alley Kat’s Three Bear Oatmeal Stout is out and about. It was in my script but I accidentally blew by it. Such are the hazards of live radio.

Next Friday we will be finishing the series with a look at the big boys of stout – Russian Imperials and Foreign Extras. Still working out which example we should taste on air. So many great examples (in both styles) to choose from. Feel free to cast your vote by making a comment.