El Toro Negro Oatmeal Stout

Brewed by El Toro Brewing Co.
Style: Sweet Stout
Morgan Hill, California USA

Black pour, thin and quickly fading tan head. Aroma is vanilla, moderate roasted malt, s’mores, oatmeal and touches of cinnamon and earthy spice. Alcohol is medium-light. Flavor is signifigantly roasty and mmoderately to near heavily sweet. Bitterness from roasted malt is substantial and caramel and chocolate progress to the foreground initially. A tingly acidity lurks in the distance and pounces to deftly counter some of the sweetness, providing more balance in the taste than in the aroma. The finish is chocolatey, dry and showcases ample backing hops. Mouthfeel is moderately carbonated and light-medium to medium bodied. This beer is very well made and somewhat easy to drink. Perhaps a touch too sweet up front, which all too quickly recedes to reveal a trouncing dryness that makes the grains seem burned. It’s almost like a smokescreen near the finale, without the desired end result of pleasant flavor enhancement. This beer is a must-try on draft, this sample was from a bottle.

6/08/2007: El Toro Negro Oatmeal Stout is very near black in color with a nice, lasting, foamy mocha-colored head. The aroma is mostly chocolate with a hint of butterscotch and some dark fruitiness or coffee or something (I can’t really figure it out!). The flavor is a creamy and smooth blend of roasted malt, chocolate, light coffee, and something slightly fruity. There is also a decent level of sweetness without being too sweet. The dry, roasted bitterness in the finish really helps to balance this beer. It has a medium body and is very smooth. Overall this beer is pretty good, but not necessarily complex or interesting enough to be great.

12 oz bottle via trade with IrishBoy (Apr 2007). Thank you Richard!

Bottled. A pitch black beer with a tan head. The aroma is sweet malty with notes of chocolate and roasted malt. The flavor is sweet malty with primary notes of chocolate leading to a slightly bitter finish.

(Bottle 35,5 cl) Courtesy of IrishBoy/Ungstrup. Black and almost opaque with a vague, reddish glow and a light brown head. Lightly tart aroma with some roasted malt. Medium body with hard roasted malts, some vanilla accents and malt astringency in the finish. 310507

Bottled. Pitch black coloured. Brownish dense head. Chocolate, light sweetness and coffee in the aroma. Flavour is a bit bland. Coffee, chocolate, sweetness, light fruity notes. A bit thin bodied. Dry. Cocoa and sweetness in the end.

(Bottle via trade with <A HREF=http://www.ratebeer.com/ViewUser.asp?UserID=3 target=blank>IrishBoy, thanks Richard!) Pretty nice roasty coffee flavor but not quite the palate for a really good oatmeal stout...Pours with a huge tan head (95% foam, 5% liquid). Body is very dark coffee brown with ruby highlights. Aroma is like a rather rich and sweet coffee drink along with some dark chocolate. Palate is actually kind of fizzy and only lightly oily - not particularly smooth and/or full. Lacing is pretty sloppy as is head when it settles. Taste is robust roasted coffee and semi-sweet chocolate. Medium-bitter. A bit of grassiness on back end. Has some good elements but just doesn’t seem to all come together, like say, Ipswich Oatmeal Stout.

12 oz bottle. Huge thanks to Irishboy for sending this out to me. I’ve been after this beer for a long time and was starting to think it was a myth. So thanks for sending it out, Richard. The aroma is a roasted malt, chocolate and a slight hint of musty cloth and sweat that, as weirds as this sounds, kind of compliments the aroma. The body is a dark red/brown toblack at the top of the glass and holds a diminishing mocha head that initially starts out very nice looking with a craggy creme brule looking surface. The fore is mild chocolate some dark fruit and a fairly bitter roastiness for an oatmeal stout. It’s fairly thin, but decent enough and definitely satisfies my stout tooth.

12 oz bottle. Black brown with a smooth tan head. Dusty chocolate and coffee. Soda-like carb. Body is a tad thin. Iced coffee and grape juice. Light hoppy drying tempers the sweetness. Some oatmeal remains. Pretty tasty.