Chat-O
Alley Kat Brewing Company

Thanks Orrshow! From BIF Canada 2006.

Pours dark brown, slight haze, small tan head forms, goes fast, no lace. Smell is sweet, chocolate, cherry, roasted grains, not bad although a little weak. Taste is light, with some chocolate, roast, and toffee, pretty weak. Mouthfeel is light bodied with low carbonation, slightly watery.

Appearance – This beer is pitch black with the slightest amount of light tan head. It moves to just a ring quickly. There are bits of lacing left but not much.

Smell – The smell is somewhat earthy. I can detect the oatmeal easily, some chocolate, brown sugar, and molasses. This is also an ever so faint hint of coffee. It’s a little weak but overall a good effect.

Taste – The taste is of oats, coffee, and a little bit of molasses. There is a bitterness at the end which is nice but unfortunately the taste in this beer is very weak. I figured it would be much stronger when I was sniffing it.

Mouthfeel – Carbonation is nice and low but this beer could use a lot more body. An almost oily feeling is there as well.

Drinkability – Really good. Not complaints at all.

Not a bad Stout, but I think with a little more flavor and body it could be improved.

Poured from a Chat-O bottle into my favorite beer glass. Bought it (The beer) today after an Alley-Kat tour!

Color is dark brown, black in the middle of the glass with smoky ruby flashes on the edges of the glass where light can peek through. A half-inch mocha head with a variety of creamy bubbles. Fades within a couple of minutes. Aroma is a mild coffee and maltiness. Mouthfeel has some jumpy carbonation that fades quickly.

Tastes bring out chocolate malt, faint toastiness, coffee and just a touch of metallic. A litte sour finish and almost no detectable alchohol. A pleasing, unique, although very light stout. Definitely a brew to curl up with when you're not in a lager mood, but not in a double IPA mood either.

A nice Alley Kat brew, once again.

A big thanks to KBL Scott for bringing this beer all the way to Japan!!! Tasted in a room of Canadians praising the wonder that is Alley Kat.

Appearance: Looks like a stout.
Smell: Light sweet malty aroma. Faint coffee.
Taste: Light malt, slightly sweet. More chocolaty than oatmealy.
Mouthfeel: Nice and creamy, though creaminess is restrained for an oatmeal stout.
Drinkability: This is definately a session beer, to be drank happily in large quantities.

Pours out root-beer brown with almost nothing for head. The little ring aroung the glass is tan in colour.

Smells of coffee and oats, with a touch of chocolate. A bit of a bitter smell.

Taste is on the light side, not as much flavour as I expected considering the potency of the smell. The bitterness may be the dominant taste in this beer. However it starts with a bit of malty sweetness.

Mouthfeel is a bit thin for a stout. Quite easy to drink and leaves almost no aftertaste.

A better than average beer, not something I'll keep all the time, but not something I'll avoid.

Kind of a fizzy stout, with some oatmeal to it. Molasses on finish. Bittersweet, Drinkable. The black color of stout, the roastedness. Very carbonated. OK stout, not smooth as Troegs, or grainy aggressive taste like ST. Ambroise. Thank you Irondjinn for the sample.

Specially brewed for the Chateau Louis hotel and liquor store, I managed to pick up a 6 pack there this Xmas season. It pours out pitch black, not much head to speak of, reminds me of Big Rock's McNally's Reserve in that sense. It retains a beige ring however. Aroma contains roasted malt, coffee and some blackstrap molasses. Flavour is big on roasted malt, light coffee in the middle, a sour molasses on the finish, and then the roasted malt again in the aftertaste. Mouthfeel is full, although a bit oily at times, yet the finish contains a roasted dryness. It's not necessarily the stout I'd reach for on a regular basis, but it's still a decent offering from Alley Kat for the style, and worth a try.

This beer is brewed especially for the "Chateau Louis" hotel and liquor store in Edmonton, Alberta. Unfortunately, it is probably the only place I've seen selling it. This is a fine beer store, one that supports all microbrews and the first place to start promoting Belgian beers in the capital.
The beer is a stout- I call it a "specialty stout" since it is very grainy and doesn't quite fit in the pigeonhole of stout styles.

The chocolate malt is very noticeable, as is the roasted barley.
It is not sweet but I would say it is bittersweet. The bitterness comes from the grains, not the hops, although there is some slight hop flavor as well.
The head is a thinner dark foam than a Guinness. I've even had it on tap at the "Hop In Brew House" in Calgary, and it is mighty fine that way as well.