Chocolate Milk Stout
Country Boy Brewing

 

 

 

 

Country Boy Brewing - Chocolate Milk Stout. 7.5% ABV. Poured from a 64oz growler into a snifter.

Look: Settles pitch black in the glass, with a thin tan ring of carbonation on the sides.

Smell: Profound dark chocolate and roast coffee, along with some caramel, and dark malt; slightly toasty.

Feel: Medium bodied, with a light amount of carbonation; very smooth.

Taste: Roast bitter coffee and dark chocolate are most prominent. Lightly sweet and bitter on the back end, and finishes the same.

Overall: This has some nice qualities from a Milk Stout, with some nice sweetness, but is balanced by bitterness with a dry finish. Not bad at all, but I did expect it to be better.

Got this one on tap, poured into a mason jar, then split between two Bew Belgium snifters. Medium/dark brown on the pour and settles black as night in the glass. About 1/2 a finger of foam on top initially, which bubbled down to a dense lacing after a minute; light brown in color. Cocoa powder, vanilla, molasses, lactose, and hints of baking spice on the nose. Fairly mild aroma on this. Heavy notes of powdered chocolate up front, which slowly transforms into a kind of baker's chocolate. Interesting. I get hints of vanilla, ginger, and nutmeg around middleways. Plenty of sweet cream and lactose on the finish. In terms of feel, this one was ok. Pretty standard for a milk stout, that is, thinner than I'd prefer. Thickened up a little as it warmed up. Dry finish.

Overall, not a bad milk stout. In fact, I can only think of one or two others that I like better than this. However, this one still didn't completely turn me into a fan of the style, in general.

 

In the world where the extract-this and artificial-that are becoming more widley accepted in the brewing world, there are a few die-hards out there that prefer to use the raw ingredients for accessorized taste rather than an additive to cover up taste. Country Boy's Chocolate Milk Stout fits this bill precisely.

Ominously black and catching the ire with more of an espresso appearance than that of chocolate milk, the stout is capped with a fluid meirngue and billowing dark chocolate and coffee aromatics. Its burnt sweetness and fine cream taste hits the early palate with suggestions of camp-roasted marshmallows.

And while tastebuds cozy up to the tastes, the dry and bitter influence of American stout takes a stern grip. Dark-roast coffee, bittersweet baker's chocolate, roasted walnut and hints of char and smoke add complexity and robustness. Finishing roasty, toasty and pleasantly burnt with sugar and cream, the beer's final frame is one of bitterness and coffee.

Medium-full, the stout's robust flavor would easily sway the taste to the richer side, but the drier and more bitter palate lightens its texture and dissolve the lactose for a charred, dry and bitter finish that extends on the after-palate with fresh coffee and cocoa powder.

This carries an immense amount of chocolate, be it powder or syrup. I don't get much on the lactose or "milk" side. It's not too sweet and a touch dry, this makes for an easily drinkable dessert.