St. Ambroise Oatmeal Stout

Brewed by McAuslan Brewing
Style: Stout
Montreal, Canada

Awesome stout. After pouring into a pilsner glass, I couldn't even get a flashlight to penetrate the super black liquid. It's that dark with bold, complex, and challenging flavors. Chicory and coffee kept repeating in my mind, but I think it's a little dry to be called a sweet stout. Still, I couldn't wait to take the next sip right to the end.

Jet black appearance with a huge creamy, tan head. Aroma shared the characteristics of roasted malts, semi-sweet chocolate and coffee. The pleasantly bitter taste also mimiced the flavors of chicory and toasted grape nuts. Well balanced with a robust, smooth, full-bodied palate. Dry, slightly metallic finish. Thanks to Tiggmtl for the bottle!

Pours a darkblack with a nice sudsy tan head. Aroma is noticable on the pour. Roasted malt/dark chocolate with a light coffee nose hintsofcaramel sweetness with some toffee notes. Smoothe roasted malt flavor is balanced oh so well, slight coffee taste with a mild underlying sweetness. Ends with a pleasant bitter and an aftertaste of coffee and some sweet malty flavors. Smooth. Excellent.

Tap pours black with a good, tawney foam head. Mild aroma of coffee and roasted maltiness. Has a very bitter first mouthful, with espresso, burnt sugar and molasses. The thick body gives way to a light smokiness, mild chocolate maltinessand dried fruits (rasins, plums, blueberries and bread). Mildly astringent and dry. Quite filling. Nice stout. Have to re-rate in a bottle.

Thick black pour. HUGE rocky tan head. Nose is bitter chocolate malt with some coffee. Wonderful creamy mouthfeel. Perfect bitterness in the finish. As good as it’s ranking.

Pours nicely, with a chocolate-tinged head. The foam is densely packed tiny pearls that linger. Looks fantastic in a glass--a dark, reddish-black. Has a very faint smell, just barely there, but you can taste that smell once you take a sip. Tastes of coffee, a little sweet (but not candy sweet, just enough of a sweet to balance the coffee). All in all, one of my favourite things in the whole world. And to top it all off, it reminds you of drinking a coffee by leaving the same nasty aftertaste. But, a small price to pay for a fantastic stout that could almost convince me that stouts are the best. Almost.

330 ml bottle. Small to average creamy brownish head, mostly diminishing, fair lacing. Very dark brown body (almost opaque black). Dark chocolate, roasted coffee grains, strong coffee as well as a little port? aroma. Light sweetness as well as moderated bitterness as initial flavor. Moderated to high bitterness (mostly from the roasted grains) and bitter chocolate as a final flavor, average to long duration. Medium to full body, creamy yet quite dry toward the end. A light astringence balanced with the smooth body. Soft to lively carbonation. One of the best beer for the style as well as one of the best beer brewed in Montreal.

Had a bit (on tap at the C’est What at the end of Fri night’s summer party festivities, but I was wiped). So now I’m at home having DougShoemaker’s gift bottle. Far and away the best Oatmeal stout I’ve ever had...perfectly balanced. I like roastiness, and this has got it. But it is also amazingly smooth, and has the most wonderful slight raisin (and other fruit?) sweetness. Ahhhh. Aroma and flavor perfectly matched...a real world classic.