Black Cloud Oatmeal Stout
Crown City Brewery

This beer was a good pick at Crown City. The beer poured dark and the head was lot very quickly into the brew. I wasn't too concerned with this because I got a great nose from it immediately and it didn't seem to die down after my first sip. It was nice and malty, oaty, had a great chocolate taste to it. There was even a slight hint of vanilla in the beer. I did really enjoy it because it had a great mouthfeel to it and it was just want I wanted that day, so I was a little bias. Just a little bit of sweetness to leave me happy the rest of the day.

decent beer. appearance was black in color and poured with an ample tan head that depleted pretty fast. aroma was of oats and malt. very sweet. the taste was filled with oats, sweet carmel, slight bitter coffee and malt. it had a medium body with a sweet aftertaste.

The Black Cloud Stout is available in two forms, neat, or bastardized as “Half-n-Half” with the Mt. Wilson Wheat Beer I think.
There is a very good selection of beers available that are not from the non-house brewery on sale at the Crown City Brewery in Pasadena. These aside, in my honest assessment, the Black Cloud Stout is the best of the house offerings
Whilst the Amber and Wheat Beers have a tendency to be low strength, low tastes beers, dare I say weak, the Stout is not. It stands tall, proud, elbows and neck above the other offerings.
During our recent visit on 1/25/03 it was served during Happy Hour for $2 a Pint and it was well worth it, I had two Pints.
The body of the beer is absolute jet black with no transparency whatsoever. The head is a lovely coffee brown tan head that sits well atop the Stout when first served. Nose is of roast dark rich coffee with a dark chocolate odor that leads nicely into the beers roast bitter introduction. A smooth, creamy Stout that has a tendency to bite you with its hoppy-bitterness at the end. The lingering skid-marks of the beer can last for some time.
If they could just get their others to this standard they would have a good range. Don’t be tempted by the Half-n-Half, you will ruin a good solid Stout.

Tried on 1/25/03 during the BA Pasadena Crawl.

This is so far the a great tasting stout. The first thing that caught my attention was the aroma as is was being served. The look is a rich deep black with a creamy head, the taste was full of coffee, chocolate and hints of vanilla and of course oatmeal. The first sip of this unique stout has lots of flavor, one to enjoy at pace for the gravity feels high (drinkablity is at 4 for this one). In my share of stouts this one has the flavor catagory fullfilled for me.