Oats have a nutty, toasted taste to it. It is different from traditional oatmeal (although it will have a similar taste to steel-cut oats). The taste isn’t especially powerful and there is very little aroma produced by oats. Some gins use oats to ferment and pull the alcohol from (similar to corn or potatoes for vodka). Other distillers will use oats to help add a subtle, toasted taste to the gin.