Milk & Cookies - Bourbon Barrel-Aged
Wicked Weed Brewing

 

 

On at tap the brewpub today.

The beer pours the expected blackish brown color with fair head retention and light lacing. On the nose, I get something of a cola aroma, with light chocolate and vanilla. Really not picking up much bourbon. The flavor profile replicates the nose pretty closely in this moderately sweet ba stout. As advertised, it is somewhat reminiscent of milk and cookies, with some light cinnamon as well. Mouthfeel is surprisingly thin considering the abv. Alcohol is pretty well integrated into the flavor profile, and frankly it's pretty difficult to believe the abv. is 11.6%. As others have noted, there's really not a lot of barrel age character in this beer.

Shrug. The high review scores for this beer are puzzling, as this is pretty clearly a light weight, middle of the road ba impy stout. It's not unpleasant, but isn't something I'd likely order again or go out of my way to find.

 

Appearance: Pours fudge brown with a thin beige head that fades to a ringlet; very leggy with dribbles of lace

Smell: Milk chocolate, cinnamon, vanilla and a hint of raisin and Bourbon

Taste: The cinnamon and raisin flavors rise quickly and join the milk chocolate; modest Bourbon and vanilla elements, in the middle with a balanced finish

Mouthfeel: Medium to full body with moderate carbonation

Overall: A nice sweet stout that could have benefited from a stronger Bourbon profile

Poured a dark brown, almost black body, with good khaki head and some lace left down the glass. Same sugary cookie smell as its predecessor but not much in terms of wood or booze that I was expecting. The beer is a tad boozy but doesn't detract from the woody smoothness and still has that lactic and sugar cookie and chocolate sweetness I remember from the original. Not bad but the bourbon barrels don't really add anything extra to original beer other than some boozy heat at times.

 

375 ml bottle into a snifter. Bottled 8/26/19, had 9/24/20.

Pours an opaque dark brown, with a half inch foamy head and foamy lacing. Aromas of bourbon, cinnamon, chocolate, vanilla, malt, some oak, light char, light raisins. The flavor starts with the cinnamon and vanilla, then malt, oak, some chocolate and cocoa, bourbon as it warms, raisins- mostly on the finish, light char. Smooth, a good full body on the thinner side, appropriately carbonated.

The raisins don’t stand out enough to make this resemble a cookie, but otherwise, this is pretty well balanced. The cinnamon and vanilla star, the barrels are solid. A little thinner than expected, but not bad. Very enjoyable.

 

Poured moderately hard from a bottle into a snifter glass, forming a finger+ of brown head, soon fading to a heavy ring of lacing. Deep black-brown color. Smell is awesome, bourbon and a little sweet cookie. Taste follows the smell, with bourbon forward followed by sweet milk stout, cookie, chocolate, and a hint of cinnamon (I think). Not too sweet at all. Medium bodied with moderate carbonation. Even better than the regular Milk and Cookies, and one of the best sweet bourbon aged stouts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Appearance - Pours dark thick black with thin tan head and little lacing.

Aroma - Sweet cinnamon, vanilla, oak and of course bourbon.

Taste - Bourbon forward, followed by vanilla, and then light raisin and cinnamon maybe a hint of oak.

Feel - Heavy to medium body with medium carbonation .

Overall - A little heavy, but overall I like it.

Growler into pint glass. Pours a very dark reddish-black with a brief,thin tan head. Initial impression is brown sugar, vanilla, a touch of bourbon, chocolate, caramel, and cinnamon. Alcohol is pretty well hidden. Mouthfeel is very smooth and thick. Finish is predominantly cinnamon and chocolate, although the bourbon lingers. A very tasty sipper!

 

 

Revisited 5/16/20

Pours a dark amber color with a nice head and lacing
Aroma has generous vanilla cookie and Bourbon hints
The taste follows the nose with a very generous and well balanced vanilla cookie and Bourbon flavor
A medium bodied well carbonated beer
A great Milk Stout

 

 

 

Faint nose of cream, bourbon, vanilla, and chocolate.

Flavor is immediately sharper, richer, sweeter. Sweet red grapes, caramel, brown sugar, bourbon mash up front; cream, vanilla, sugar, dough in the middle; chocolate, sugar, doughy finish.

Smooth.

Not overly sweet, somehow, although sugar is a recurring theme. Nails the intent.

Pouring from a 12.7 oz. bottle into a whiskey tumbler glass, this beer pours out black and forms a thin, light caramel crown that doesn’t stick around long. 3.75

The nose brings a dark fruit presence of raisins and figs tangling with a present cinnamon before finishing with a touch of vanilla sweetness. Some warming bourbon and alcohol in there as well. Pleasant, with multiple layers, but rather underwhelming. 3.5

The taste delivers a kiss of tingling cinnamon before carrying you to the dark fruit notes of raisins and figs. The background of this beer is layers of bourbon, oak and leather. Vanilla is present, but not prominent. 3.75

The mouthfeel is on the dry side with the notes of oak and leather while being tingly from cinnamon and bringing a balanced bourbon warmness. Medium bodied, well carbonated. 3.75

Overall, this is a solid, balanced brew all the way around but doesn’t bring a prominence of anything to make it really stick out. 3.75

 

 

 

I am getting ready to depart for the weekend, headed to Conshohocken (Conshy)/Gulph Mills for a monthly bottle share, but I also wanted something to prime the pump, so to speak. The weather is supposed to be fairly decent throughout the weekend in anticipation of a coming mid-week weather event, but even if this is warming now, I'm okay with that.

From the Bottle: "Crafting the ultimate comfort beer was a winter challenge we happily embraced. Our Milk and Cookies Stout is a cold weather classic, and this version cranks up the comfort through barrel aging. We entrusted our Imperial Milk Stout with golden raisins, cinnamon, and vanilla into the warming embrace of Kentucky Bourbon barrels to carry us home for the holidays. Relax. Drink up. You’re home."; "Drink It Now. Drink It Later."

I began by Pop!ping the cap & starting a slow, gentle C-Line pour into the awaiting glass. I watched in rapt fascination as it performed a pseudo-cascade that eventually settled into just under two fingers of foamy, soapy, rocky, deep-brown head with low retention, quickly falling away to wisps, leaving only marginal lacing behind. Color was Black/Opaque (SRM = 44) with cola highlights only at the edges. Nose smelled of cinnamon & coconut, the latter undoubtedly from the Bourbon-Bbl. aging. Mouthfeel was thick & full, like a dollop had been scooped into my mouth & onto my tongue. The taste was fairly overwhelmed by the cinnamon, but Bourbon was definitely involved. It was definitely like eating a spiced holiday cookie, but I was kind of missing the value added from the golden raisins & the vanilla. Did they go too heavy on the cinnamon? Might I have been better served by allowing it to age? The latter is kind of unknowable for me since I have enough cellar-aged beer as it is & with my current health situation, I am reluctant/unwilling to age more beers at this point. I liked its spiciness, which really seemed to hold the sweetness in check. Finish actually turned out to be fairly dry as a result. I liked it well enough & now I am curious to try standard Milk & Cookies.