Trafalgar Smoked Oatmeal Stout

I too seemed a bit interested in this beer. But after tasting it, I was not shocked by the results. Aroma: Smokiness was brief and wet, while the roast aroma was hanging around it didn’t jump out and say here I am. Weak Appearance: Prune juice colour. If it were not for the slight bit of head at the beginning I would have taken it as prune juice if I had seen it on the counter all by itself. No head and next to no carb. Flavour: Not very delightfull or interesting other than the few sips it took me to determine what kind of infection it had. Oatmeal was vaigue but present and the malt flavour was weak with some astringent malt characteristics. The body was thin and watery not full and chewie like it should be. My overall opinion, Is Trafalger test batching different beers and bottling to sell? They should make sure the beer is drinkable before releaseing to the public. It seems to me they are selling their mistakes instead of dumping them down the drain or giving to the employees to take home. Sorry, I don’t like to bad mouth but Trafalger had some decent beers a few years back. I would like to see them go back to the basics and produce some good beer.

650 mL bottle. Okay there was some excitment when I read the label.... Big bold letters that proclaim SMOKED OATMEAL STOUT... then I saw who made it and then my jaw drop stopped right there. After having what I consider a holy grail of Oatmeal Stouts (Southern Tier Oatmeal Stout) having this just does not come close to the standard that I have on my palate now for what this could be. Anyways for this beer. It pours a black ruby colour with a fastly disipating tan head with no fancy lacing whatsoever. Aroma is cloying. Like an extract of smoke. The malts were weak in the aroma as well. Flavour is again filled with this false smoke flavour. Malts are there but not .... ahhhhh I can’t write about it..... "velovampire" says "unremarkable" I agree. Palate is watery and not stout like. They tried.... I got my hopes up that finally Ontario was going to be served something great but instead we got "served" ... ouch. Maybe someone from Trafalgar will read this and turn this attempt around.

650 ml bomber - pours a very black black with the faintest ruby fringes and a tan head that is gone in (less than) 60 seconds.. Light aroma roasted malt and some kind of vague toothpastey thing. Weird. Oh god, this is thiiiiiiiin. Kind of like drinking stout-flavoured water. Almost no body at all to support what few flavours are here - metal, black licorice and chocolate, in about that order. The faintest wisp of smoke. Almost no finish to speak of. Kinda tastes like a mediocre homebrew. Trafalgar produces a lot of brands, and they are almost all unremarkable - why not cut the quantity and focus on the quality? One of Trafalgar’s better brews, but really - what would GregClow say? COME ON!!!!!

650ml bomber - Labeled as "Smoked Oatmeal Stout". Pours black with ruby highlights and a bubbly but decent head. Aroma is faint but sweet. A bit chemical. Roasted malt with some chocolate, but again, faint. Smokiness is present, but along with that same chemical-like character. Flavour is also quite sweet, not very creamy or oatmealy. Some chocolate fills out the middle. Fairly thin with a sourish finish and aftertaste. Nothing amazing. Not bad, but not something I am likely to pick up again. Seems like it has improved somewhat since it’s initial run however.

Bottled from the LCBO. I was excited when I saw it, but disappointed when I tried it. Treacly flavor, but not in consistency, which was surprisingly thin. Smoky, but not unpleasantly so.

I assume we’re all reviewing the same beer here...my bottle is labeled as "smoked" oatmeal stout?? Bottle: has best before date of Jan 08, I assume this is a fresh sample less than 2 weeks in the bottle. Pours a dark black-brown with ruby highlights....not the opaque black indicative of the style. Cap is fair but did not last that long. Aroma was pleasant: malty, cooked cereals, some faint nut and smoke undertones some "charred" husks and molasses notes. Decent nose to it. Up front you get the malts and nutty cereal tones right off, then a demerara sweetness floods in but is surprisingly kept at bay by some decent hop bittering, smoke and char astringency....this bittering and smoky black malt astringency carry the finish. This is a thin and sweetish example of the oatmeal stout and kind of shy on the "smoke" but a decent enough effort to be clean and drinkable. Probably the best and cleanest beer I have sampled from this brewer.

Bottle (as "Smoked Oatmeal"): Surprisingly (kinda) thin pour with very little head and zero lacing. Cola-brown. I wish I knew what I’m looking for exactly, but all Trafalgar products have a similar off-putting flavour that might derive from the yeast, but maybe the malt variety. I would describe it as a bit minty or even rubbery. In any case, it actually served to compliment this beer somewhat, so that in the final analysis it’s better than most of their offerings, but still not very good. Thin, flat, somewhat sticky body yields roasted flavours, reminiscent of a burnt sesame bagel, perhaps a bit of coffee and caramel. Finish is fairly long and dry. I can’t get over that icky Trafalgar taste though. Doesn’t seem like any stout I’ve had, much less an oatmeal stout, as many tasters have noted.

Bottle 650ml
Appearance :Clear ruby brown with fine white contrasting top.3+
Nose :Chocolate, roasts with woody accents. Not as clean as some stouts go. 6-
Flavour/Palate:
Thin base , quiet harsh texture with remote hint of roasted malt. More body, better malt base is the right way to do it. Pretty label is only good for first buy.