St. Ambroise Oatmeal Stout

Brewed by McAuslan Brewing
Style: Stout
Montreal, Canada

A Sim rate (bottle at ChrisO’s): Coffee, brandy, vanilla, pecan and mmm... irish coffee in the aroma. It smells like those fancy little pots of cream that you can get in the states for your coffee. Nice color with a brown head. Flavour is a bit of a letdown after the aroma which was so promising. Bit of sherry in there. Not much coffee, but it’s got the Bailey’s. Quite nice, but wish it tasted more like the aroma.

April 2006 - What a beautiful beer! Poured almost jet black with a little red showing around the edges with huge dark tan head. Lacing left all over the glass when done. Roasty malt aroma leapt from the glass and could be smelled during the pour. The first sip wow’ed me and got me in trouble because my wife was mid-sentence and then she said, "You’re not even listening to me...you’re looking at that stupid beer!" Oh well, you gotta do what you gotta do...and I had to appreciate the beer. eaglefan538 hit the flavor on the head...a bit bitter and lactic tasting. I really wanted it to be smoother and lose the bitterness and this could have been up there with the super-elite. As it is, it’s still probably up near tops of the class...just lost the opportunity for "a moment."

11.5oz bottle. Pours fairly dark black with a big foamy light brown head that leaves thin but plentiful lacing down the glass. Aroma is subtle, roasty, chocolate, slight dark fruits, a little chalky and just a bit of smoke. Aroma greatly improves as it warms, containing the same qualities just amplifying and improving each one. Very nice aroma for a standard stout. Taste is smooth, a little roasty and smoky with a considerable watery component. Mouthfeel is silky yet still a little thin-bodied for my tastes. The body and watery taste hurt this otherwise nice stout. Kalamazoo bests this by a considerable amount I think.

Pours black with a 4 finger high, foamy, brown head. The aroma is coffee, fry oats, and bitter cocolate. Flavors are Bitter coffee and floral hops with a little chocolate hidden in there. Very creamy, almost oily, mouthfeel.

One of my favorite stouts. Combines a great rich coffee flavor with a smooth drinkability. Great dark body with a tan head. A great stout all around.

Foam Rangers January meeting. Dark brownish black with tan head. Rich coffee and chocolate nose with distinct sweetness in each. Flavor is roated matls, creamy chocolate and coffee. Very nice.

Aroma is.. um, diacytl? Really? or is that a coffee derived thing? Um, shit, that’s diacytl. Taste is charred and chocolate with a lot of coffee grains. Up front it is pretty okay. Just fades away ungracefully. Kind of thin and charred with diacytl. I’ll have to try this again. 6/3/7/3/13 ----- Re-rate 3/9/2007 Aroma is much more chocolate and coffee, mostly rich coffee with hints of a graininess. Still, touches of diacetyl. Taste is like coffee grounds that have been freshly ground to a powder then dissolved into a stout base. I actually get a touch of alcohol in the aroma of this, but other than that, I think this beer is nearly perfect for what it is. I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt, despite the smaller aroma. 7/3/7/3/15

Wow! That is a beer isn’t it? Dark dark dark brown to black with a healthy dark tan head, thinning quickly. That thing smells like a stout too! Roast so fresh that it is fruity. Really, this is like that fruity acidity you get from a god coffee. Creamy, strangle, despite smelling like a dark cup of coffee. Decent sweetness, level. The mouthfeel is really exceptional for a beer this low in alcohol and really balanced. I mean, this thing is full and creamy, but it isn’t going to get you quite so smashed. Still, it’s not full of unfermented sugars. Or maybe it is? This roast is so intense it could stand up to any malt. Again, there’s a creamy flavor as well as that fruity acidity like in the nose. It’s even better here, in my humble opinion! Cherry? Lingering cherry to oaky finish. This is just a wonderful little beer, I’d drink this for sure if it were local and/or half as much. This kind of reminds me of a slightly more roast heavy, drier Founders Breakfast Stout.