St. Ambroise Oatmeal Stout

Brewed by McAuslan Brewing
Style: Stout
Montreal, Canada

Best before 03/03 drank on 09/02: Pours black with a nice stable light brown head. Huge roasted coffee/chocolate aroma that lets you know what you are in store for. Huge taste that is even more intense than the aroma. Roasted taste lasts for minutes after the last sip. Certainly a brew that is meant to be sipped by itself. Thanks DougShoemaker!

12 oz bottle. Pours pitch black with a good size tan head. Aroma is very heavy on coffee, with chocolate, smoke, and some sweetness. Flavor is slightly sour with a dry earthy and somewhat metallic finish. Coffee flavor again dominates but a moderate amount of bitterness balances it nicely. Moderate amount of carbonation lightly tingles the tongue and hides a bit of the flavor, rather light bodied for the style. Overall this is a decent beer, but not going to be a favorite.

Rerate, 12oz bottle. Similar to before, but the charred / burnt malt character in this gets to me after a while; overly burnt, with a generous dark chocolate and roasted malt core; perhaps a bit too inky and taxing on the palate after a while; doughy notes come through on the finish. A nice stout, and impressively dense for 5%. I have to be in a particular mood for this. 8.4.8.4.14=3.8

12oz bottle via trade from HogTownHarry. Thanks, Harry!! Pours a dark black center, with the slightest amount of light coming through at the edges; light brown head with good retention and lacing. Generous aroma shows plenty of milk / dark chocolate and charred malts. Medium viscosity, but a whole lot of flavor for a 5% beer: dark chocolate, coffee, smoky overtones; a citrusy hoppiness; creamy and layered, with a charred / roasted malt character leading into a long finish, with bitter chocolate and the slightest hint of hops. Such a good stout. 8.4.9.4.17=4.2.

Pours with an incredibly frothy brown head that sits atop a deep black beer that has hints of dark brown to it. Ah, the aroma is quite nice; it is a mix of espresso, French roast, dark malt, hints of chocolate. The really nice thing about the aroma is that despite the incredible roasty, burnt nose there is no astringent burnt grain huskiness to the nose. Ok, the aroma is quite heavenly, I never would have guessed how well integrated this roasted malt nose would be; the mix of dark chocolate and coffee is quite heavenly.

Does the taste live up to the heavenly nose? It is on the light side of things, as the alcohol percentage suggests this is a fairly light beer on the tongue, it does not have the thick maltiness that one would find in an Imperial Stout that would have a nose like this beer does. Having said that the heft of this beer perfectly lives up to the 5% alcohol. This beer is an expressive mix of roasted barley, dark roast coffee, even espresso and a hint of dark chocolate. This beer has just a bit of oatmeal character to it that adds a touch of oily rich body to the palate. The beauty of this beer is that it combines the rich roast malt character of a beer far beyond this alcohol content yet still retains a balance that does not allow this ample roast character to overwhelm the this relatively low alcohol beer.

Bottle from GonZoBeer Merci!

Pours a deep, mysterious black with hints of Halloween at midnight. Beige head gives rise to an eerie fog of complex foam, foam that seems to rise from the netheregions and, like Jason Vorhees, dies a slooooow death. Lace clings like a werewolf’s claws into a hapless victim’s flesh. Aroma is a pointy whiff of pipe smoke, with bits of vanilla flavored tobacco wafting in the air. Flavor is a merlot mixed with chocolate, smoke, and plum. Coffee beans seem to be clawing their way to the head of the table to feast on the delicate carcass before them. Palate is a bit watery. Not bad.

Bottle (341 ml). Pitch black with a red hue when held up against the light, medium creamy brown head. Strong roasted aroma with notes of coffee, dark chocolate, and gun powder. Medium bodied with smooth mouthfeel and low carbonation. Very dry with a lingering roasted bitterness. A tasy and genuine stout but I really cannot understand the high ratings of this one.

Thank you so much Richard. Chocolate, caramel, vanilla, baking powder aroma. Smells so great. Black as the night, little hazelnut brown layer. Brussels lace. Bitter coffee taste, chocolate with 90 % cocao beans taste. Kicks on the roof of the tongue. Suprisingly thin, not syrupy. Long lasting bitter finish. "This beer rocks" as user-ex would probably say.

11.5oz twist-off bottle. Pours jet black, thick tan head. Nice lacing. Aroma of sweet roasty malt. Some coffee, some chocolate. Flavor of overly roasted roast. Rich coffee. Light bodied, lingering coffee bitterness.