Option #2 Imperial Milk Stout
Rock Bridge Brewing Co.

16oz can at share. Near black pour, small thin beige head. Full aroma of roast malts and coffee. Taste is more of the aroma with notes of chocolate and vanilla.. Pretty smooth and creamy.

 

 

16 oz can, into THAT! NE IPA snifter.

Deep silky dark black with a tall creamy khaki head of 3 fingers, leaving lots of lace as it gradually recedes to a finger.

Aroma of freshly tapped coffee beans from the dispenser, some light vanilla, caramel, espresso, hazelnut, cocoa, and cinnamon.

Flavor is coffee forward but not overwhelmingly so. It mixes nicely with hints of caramel and vanilla and some toast crusts/toast crumbs, with some herbal hop for balance that skews slightly piney. The coffee is much like a french pressed coffee, very soft and supple, with nice creamy hints of vanilla bean.

Feel is soft and creamy with little stabs of carbonation here and there, and then a sort of weird resiny oily finish.

Overall a very solid stout and I like this better than the Vanilla version.

Price paid : $10.99 / 4 pack
Would buy again : jah

 

Poured from 16oz can into glass. No canning date information found.
Black colored body, with thin mahogany edge when back lit. Nearly a finger of light tan head settles to islands and ring. Leaves behind some thin webbings of lacing.
Aroma of roasted malt, vanilla, hazelnuts and coffee. Quite robust.
Taste is smooth with roasted malts, robusto coffee, hazelnuts, chocolate, and vanilla. Sweet and no bitterness. The end of the taste profile has the roasted malts coming back with slight char.
Medium to full mouth feel. Okay carbonation.
Very well done coffee porter beer, with also nutty and vanilla aspects. Quite well balanced, and with a supporting mouth feel.

 

 

Big thanks to dujayhawk for sending this one! Reviewed from (very long-standing) notes. Poured from a 16 oz. can into an El Catador teku glass.

A: Essentially black, and nearly completely opaque. The thin light tan head fades to a ring of foam fairly quickly, and there's minimal visible carbonation. Nice and thick in appearance.

S: Milk chocolate and brownie batter, vanilla and lactose sweetness. Dark roasted coffee beans. There's a prevalent malt sweetness, but still maintains plenty of roasty character. Notes of caramel and hazelnut lurk within the vanilla-nougat. This might be the best smelling milk stout I’ve had, at least non-barrel-aged.

T: Chocolate and cake mix and vanilla and French Roast coffee all shouting at each other but in a dance of harmony. Hazelnut, toffee, and caramel sweeten the heavily roasted malts as well. Notes of tobacco manage to dry out the sweet lactose somewhat. The finish is like a black-and-white cookie Frappucino – a mixed chocolate/vanilla flavor with creamy sweetened coffee on the exhale.

M: Full-bodied for style, and low carbonation sensation overall but about average for style. The alcohol presence is well-hidden for sure.

O: Wow. I’m really impressed by my first beer from these guys. Not even sure I’d heard of them before, and maybe this is by far their best beer. But man...what a beer to throw out for a canned milk stout. This was balanced, with full and complex flavors. A nice and thick - but not at all syrupy - mouthfeel. Complex flavors in a milk stout, but that never stray into overly sweet or cloying. It’s not a "desert island" beer for me, and I don’t know if this is a regularly available distributed beer or not. But if it was, and it were available here, this would blow away any milk stout on the shelves around here. Really nicely done.

 

Thanks to scarysun for this 16 oz. can that arrived as an extra in a recent trade. Split with my wife to try to wash the taste of the previous coffee stout from our memories.

The pour is a quiet, Jetta black, sans rust. Nose is extremely light, vague roast.

Option #2 Imperial Milk Stout is just as advertised. Vanilla & hazelnut hit immediately, as this beer does not believe in subtlety, followed by a rich, deep sweetness tinged liberally with chocolate. Surprisingly, the roast & lactose are light, given, you know, the beer’s name. Nice & easy sipper.

Lovely stout that would stand out here locally, with enough depth & body to really keep a guy’s interest, without putting me in bed after 16 ounces. Very good beer.

Poured from a pint can into a tulip glass. Minimal lacing, but a lovely brownish black pour with moderate head, which dissipates quickly.

Smells strongly of caramel, with a touch of nutty chocolate. Some vanilla afternotes.

Mouthfeel is fairly standard for a stout: not particularly thick, but well-bodied and smooth.

Unfortunately, it lacks the taste you might expect from a craft stout. There are lots of chocolate and vanilla elements, and it's not bad at all, but the mix leaves a bit to be desired, and the alcohol isn't very well hidden.

That said, overall this is a fairly good beer. I wouldn't opt for it at a bar, but at roughly $9 for four pints, it's a solid deal for at-home imperial stout drinking.

 

Type: 16-oz. can
Glass: Clear 14.75-oz. porter/stout tulip
From: Goebel Liquor / Rob’s World of Beer in Wichita, Kan.
Price: $3.59 (I think)
Purchased: March 14, 2018
Consumed: March 17, 2018
Reviewed as: Double Milk / Sweet Stout
Misc.: No canned on date

Picked this up and a vanilla variant on a recent work trip to Wichita, Kan., without even looking at the rating. Was going back and forth of reviewing it as a Milk / Sweet Stout or an American Double / Imperial Stout. Description online read, “An Imperial Milk stout brewed with vanilla-hazelnut coffee beans that pours thick black with tan head. Aromas of roasted coffee, vanilla and hazelnut. Creamy mouthfeel with notes of vanilla, roasted coffee grain, and hazelnut.” Was looking forward to it.

Poured a pitch black color with three fingers of rocky, khaki head. Calm setting underneath. Excellent foamy layered lacing. World-class foamy retention. (Sight - 4.50)

Smelled vanilla, hazelnut, white chocolate, toffee, caramel, mocha, wintry spices (wishful?) and horchata. Smelled pretty damn good. A little crayon late from the can. (Smell - 4.25)

Taste was better than the nose. First thing I thought was that’s not 9.2 pct. So smooth. Got vanilla, hazelnut, white chocolate, caramel, bitter mocha, horchata and milk chocolate. (Taste - 4.50)

Full body. Sticky texture. Average carbonation. Long, smooth finish. (Feel - 4.50)

Hot damn this was good. A world-class milk stout. (Overall - 4.50)

4.44 | 98 | A

 

 

 

 

Appearance: Pours coffee colored with a thick tan head that pancakes down to a film; spotty lacing action

Smell: Chocolate, hazelnut coffee and lactose with a hints of caramel

Taste: Chocolate and hazelnut-flavored coffee, with cream and sugar; rather sweet, through the middle, with a hint of caramel; after the swallow, there is a bitter aspect that tangles with the underlying sweetness

Mouthfeel: Full bodied with moderate carbonation

Overall: A bit too sweet for my palate, I'm afraid