Thursday, 17 December 2009

• Brew Beat: St-Ambroise Oatmeal Stout

  
  

  
  

  This beer comes to us from the McAuslan Brewery in Quebec, Canada. This beer was suggested to me by a friend when we were talking about beer. As I generally really like stouts of all kinds, I thought I'd give this one a try, and I'm very glad I did.
  
  Pour: Absolutely motor-oil jet black and completely opaque. Poured up with a huge, dense 3-fingered chocolate colored head that retained very well and left all sorts of lacing on the glass. A beer that was almost too pretty to drink.
  
  Smell: Rich chocolate malt aroma and coffee notes are the front-runners in this beer, combined with the sweeter caramel malt smell as well. Some dark fruity smells, a little bit of earthy hops, and a faint smell of alcohol.
  
  Taste: All over the place. This beer starts off with a burnt dark chocolate malt taste that really gets your attention. This gives way into the slightly sweeter caramel malts, a faint hint of the dark fruits, and a touch of that classic oatmeal stout sweetness. The back of the palate has a distinct coffee bite and finishes off with a nice balanced hop bitterness. Underlying all this is a smoky note which brings all the distinct flavors of the beer together as one.
  
  Mouthfeel: Moderate, but has an unmistakable chewy and creamy note as well. Absolutely velvety smooth, and has moderate carbonation.
  
  Drinkability: This beer was an absolute pleasure to sip on and savor. It didn't fill me up too quickly, that said, I wouldn't want more than a few of these.
  
  Final Notes: This is an incredible beer. Not super-sweet like the other oatmeal stouts I've tried (which is a good thing, I think), well-balanced, nice mouthfeel, and lots of flavor going on here. The smoky flavors would make it an excellent companion to a cookout, and would even taste great when used as a flavoring agent for sort of a "chocolate beer" flavored ice cream. A lot bigger beer than any 5% ABV beer has the right to be. I'm going with "A" on this beer, because it's great.

  • 6:01 PM
  • 323 Views
  • 10 eProps
  • 5 Comments