St. Ambroise Oatmeal Stout

Brewed by McAuslan Brewing
Style: Stout
Montreal, Canada

Bottle during my Great Lakes region brew tour. B-L-A-C-K with a tall, tan head. The nose is of sweet, creamy chocolate, oats, bright coffee, milk, and almonds. Licorice, oats, raisins, and soft coffee are present in the mouth. This flirts with the definition of a sweet stout. This is mild throughout but still complex and extremely well balanced. Scarily drinkable stout, this.
[August 10, 2008]
bottle from Leaf & Ale. Pours black with ruby evident in the light. A tall khaki head forms and lasts for the entire leisurely drinking session. The aroma is mouthwatering. It’s amazing what this stout can achieve in its tastefulness. It’s not powerful to the nose, but distinct toasted oats, mocha, smoke, and coffee are all noted. The flavor is the same. Oh, but let’s not skip over the oh-so creamy palate. It covers the tongue and just begs to wash down the gullet. The beer isn’t very heavy, but more than adequate to quell the hunger for flavor. I get toasty oats, mocha, just a hint of meat, and toffee in the finish. The whole thing is scarily drinkable. This is one balanced and pleasing package. St. Ambroise Oatmeal Stout is the definition of a session beer.

Bonus bottle off my wants list from john_adam2002. Best before June 30, 2009. Thanks Adam! Pitch black with a creamy small microbubble head. Aroma is that sour dry roasty aroma that I’m not the biggest fan. At least the aroma is very mild, but that’s where it ends. The flavor is a strong dry roasted grains, much like a cigarette butt. Much like the unpleasant Founders Breakfast Stout, it just has too much roasted flavor and is too dry. Apparently this style is great for many, but not for me. A very generous 3.0, only brought up, because it’s probably good for the style. Ug.

On tap at Beer Bistro (Toronto, ON). Pours a dark brown to black with one finger creamy tan head. Aroma is sweet and roasted with notes of chocolate, brown sugar, ripe dark fruit, light coffee and roasted wood. Flavor is sweet and roasted with notes of light spice, chocolate, coffee, smoke, toasted bread, some hints of brown sugar. Generally medium body with a light roasted finish.

Bottle. Thanks to OKBeer for sending me this. Dark black pour with nice head. Aroma is chocolate, sweet creamy malt, a nice coffee aroma. Flavor has a light sugary mouthfeel, slightly bitter, very smooth. Good Stout.

12oz bottle courtesy of xmarcnolanx. Pours a completely opaque midnight black with a 2 finger tan head. Incredible lacing with this one. Nose is roasted oats, dark chocolate and espresso. Taste smoked malt, toasted ashy malt, bakers chocolate and a bitter black coffee finish. Full, creamy mouth feel. Really good – thanks Marc!

Bottle from trade with HogtownHarry. Thanks buddy! Pour is darkness with a huge, tan head in my Spirit Haus glass. Aroma of cocoa, espresso, roasted malts, and little dark fruity tang as a finale. This is a very easy drinking stout. Hops present on the palate along with a little sourness. Solid beer from Motown! Thanks Harry!

A friend brought this for me from Toronto. Poured black with a brown head. The aroma is very distinct, lots of roast and coffee smells. However, the taste is thin as is the body. The bitterness in the taste over shadows the other flavors. There is that roasty aftertaste. I expected a lot of this brew and it is definitely good but no top 50.

Rerate: almost exactly 1 year later. Same batch, best before Feb. 28, 07. Cellared for half the time and closet stored for the other half. Still a good looking beer with the blackest body and a medium tan head. I would not call the thin anymore but more like light-medium. The aroma and taste have changed a good bit. The roastiness is still there with good sweetness in the taste. But no there is this overarching perfume character running through both the aroma and taste. At times it seems nice but then it gets annoying and almost seems like real perfume added to the beer. Definitely seems to have passed its prime.

Bottle from Sergio’s - Pours pitch black with a thin foamy mocha head. Tastes of chocolate malt, foamy roast, oatmeal, toffee, and vinous malt. Mouthfeel is full bodied with lush carbonation. Pretty enjoyable stout, a bit overrated though.