12 oz bottle as part of a sixer from Hop City, Atlanta, GA, USA. Extraordinary hype has surrounded this beer in the last few weeks, and to be honest I even got a little caught up in it myself. I dislike it when that happens, but of course this is not one of those ultra-limited, one day only release affairs that I had to camp out overnight for (I'd never do that), so at least my dignity remained in tact. Anyway, on to the beer. Into the DFH signature glass it goes. Some slightly lighter hues at...
Notes on beers in the style
Milk / Sweet Stout
Moo Thunder Stout
Delighted and impressed by another one of the offerings from Butternuts. 12 oz single can from Hop City, Atlanta, GA. Pours a decent black color with a smallish head that fades quickly. This is a simple milk stout that delivers a decent amount of acidity in the tastes. Light roast that is pretty delicate, competes with some sweet notes that play off one another nicely. Carbonation is low but perfect for the style, delivering a light beer that does NOT feel thin at all. The light acidity is...
Moloko
22 oz bottle, thanks to Micah (DogBrick) for the chance to try this beer. Jet black body with a lovely looking mocha colored head. Small, fine bubbles with nice density. Very compact and tight with a degree of orange color that seems to match the label. (Perhaps my imagination!) A super beer that captures a lovely combination of the lactose sugar and mild sweetness that come together in the way that a sweet stout should, i.e. as a welcome, refreshing antidote to the incessant onslaught of a...
Terrapin Midnight Project Depth Charge Espresso Milk Stout
22 oz bottle, $7.49 from Total Wine, Perimeter, Atlanta, GA, USA. #2 in the Midnight Project, Terrapin/Left Hand collaboration. Deliberately avoided this at Brewgrass as I wanted to try it for the first time, properly. Gold foil on the neck. No surprise on the pour, a pure black with tan espresso like head. Some lace. There's actually EXTREMELY little to report here - this is in NO way a complex beer. That doesn't make it *bad*, it just means it is what it is. The nose and tastes are basically...
Left Hand Milk Stout
A lot of sweetness up front with that tell-tale lactose aroma. For me there is a VERY fine line between the attractiveness of the lactose nose & taste, and the classic Hershey's "vomit" taste & smell which haunts all of that company's chocolate products (try chocolate from around the world and you'll notice the Hershey "vomit" characteristic). Good looking black body and I like the packaging. Strong Hershey milk chocolate feel. Acidic finish which enhances the lactose feel, rather unusual and...
Little Yeoman Stout
Very good appearance, solid black, but a disappointingly small head. Aromas are chocolate and some burnt malt. Roasted and toasted come to mind. Aromas a reflected in the tastes. Some bitterness in the finish. Mouthfeel is very nice, with good levels of carbonation and a smooth feeling on the way down. Drinkable, if not spectacular - a nice example.
Young’s Double Chocolate Stout
Out of the bottle but still a nitro poured appearance. Small, perfectly formed light tan colored head sits atop the jet black body. It promises much. Definite sugar, confectionery type aroma, but not as chocolate laden as the name or the anecdotal evidence would suggest. Certainly some cocoa type undertones, but surprisingly controlled. I get some acidity that I wasn't expecting and little more bitterness than others in the Milk/Sweet style. I guess that's the chocolate coming through with a...
Duck-Rabbit Milk Stout
Dark pour with light brown highlights. Small, tan head that recedes quickly to leave a ring of spotty creaminess around the circumference of the surface. Definitely a sweet drink, but the sugar is not overpowering and serves to smooth out the bitterness. It’s nice, drinkable and tasty, but lacks body and mouthfeel. The upside of that is that the drink is really much more refreshing than similar beers of the same style. Light, drinkable and enjoyable, but not a heavyweight. A light...
Samuel Adams Cream Stout
Part of a mixed six pack (2 Hefe, 2 Cream Stout, 2 Boston Ale) from Sam Adams @ 7.49, Publix, Villa Rica, GA, USA. Nice dark, mahogany brown/black pour with a considerable rocky, light brown head that hung around. Some decent lacing too. There are some seriously sweet, sherry like aromas. This is a soft drinking, sweet stout, with a medium body that gives a mouthfeel larger than one would expect. However it doesn't suffer from excessive sweetness that some of the Milk Stouts can. The...
Mackeson Triple XXX Stout
Jet black pour with the characteristic tan head. It's more like sweet black coffee than sweet black coffee! Not necessarily one I would always reach for, but a damn fine example of the style. I always feel that drinking and really enjoying stout is very dependent on the circumstances. It's heavy, so you need to to in the right mood, food situation - and don't over indulge. I don't know if the Mackeson beers have changed over the years, but I remember this being much more bitter in years gone...
St. Peter’s Cream Stout
It's all chocolate, it's all burned coffee, it's all rich, deep aromas and tastes, and it's all spectacular! St. Peter's does it again with this stunning stout. An experience more than a drink, with the aromas and tastes wooing the senses - I love it. Pours jet black with a beautiful tan head that invites you in. The initial tastes are sweet and chocolatety and it just gets deeper and richer from there. This is a brew to savor and to indulge in. Enjoy.