St. Ambroise Oatmeal Stout

Brewed by McAuslan Brewing
Style: Stout
Montreal, Canada

Dark brown opaque w/ a small tan head. Chocolate malt aroma w/ hints of roastiness and caramel. That’s about it. Roast become stronger as it warms. Chocolate flavor and bitterness from hops, balanced to bitter, light caramel and a light hop flavor. Harshly astringent IMHO, med. body and low carbonation. Smooths out a bit with age.

Noticed that I had this rated much lower than others so I figured I’d give it another go since the price for a single was right. Very nice looking beer. Dark brown/black w/ a huge brown head of mixed size bubbles that laves behind an absolute ton of lace. Nose is mostly roasted notes w/ an astringent pungency, some floral and berry notes and a brackish sea-water tinge (I find this often in stouts, actually). Not especially interesting or flavorful but drinkable enough w/ its medium body, light carbonation and pleasant bitterness in the finish. I’m leaving this filed in my "beers I just don’t get" drawer.

Original rating: I really don’t see what makes this so special. There’s plenty of more common oatmeal stouts that are better. This one has a nice dark color with a white head. Roasty with lightly fruity character in the nose. Slightly creamy mouthfeel with some roasty and hoppy flavors but neither exceedingly complex nor exceedingly drinkable. (3.0)

wow. Retried again: Aroma is a rich, malty-roasted sweet, with milk, oats, coffee, milk and dark chocolate, burnt toffee. Awesome, and unique. Palate is a touch thin, and quite carbonated. After letting this sit, the flavors really swing into high gear. This is no subtle beer, despite the lower alcohol. The balance and mouthfeel is so complex, with perhaps some dark chocolate, molasses, oatmeal, and roasted flavors. Dry finish, perhaps a bit light for a stout but great overall. Every tie I re-try this, I realize why this is my favorite stout of all time.

341 mL bottle. Pours deep brown with a deep mocha head. Some chocolate, roasted malts, coffee, caramel and a slightly vinous nose. Med. body and fairly intense carbonation. Nice balance of sweetness, bitterness and acidity. Coffee, roasted malts, and lighter, sweeter malts come through. Decent lingering aftertaste.

Black as coal. Frothy mocha head. Smooth dark chocolate and coffee flovor. Light lingering sweet bitter after taste.

Pour is very dark, almost black, very thin tan head. Aroma is nice, very sweet, mostly chocolate. Palate is a bit oily, a little gritty, deep roasted coffee, ends dry. This is not super complex, but very good.

Poured an absolute treat; dark chocolate and choc orange / coffee coloured head. Lots of sweet roast and chocolate waftes up together with a sweeter fruity edge. Palate firms up considerably with bitter roast, soft choc orange but an absence of the sweet chocolate. This is good stout, but no way is it a 99%er.

Draft: Huge thick head of foam stayed till the last drop, nice chocolatey flavor , tasted a lot like a guiness with more flavor.