Allpress Espresso Milk Stout
Green Beacon Brewing Co

As promised my next review is another coffee-infused beer: Allpress Espresso Milk Stout, by those stalwart brewers at Teneriffe’s favourite brewery – Green Beacon! Yes, yes, I’m generally suckered in by Green Beacon’s limited release beers, but only because they are generally of a very high standard. Not so much lately, with many of their recent limited release brews being on the average side (Hound of Hades, Barbary Coast, 7 Bells), however I am certain this next beer made with Allpress Espresso coffee is going to be great, or at least in the general vicinity of great. So let’s bring on this Coffee Milk Stout brewed with lactose and love in sunny old Brisbane (Australia).

Poured from a 375ml can into a nonic pint.

A: Deep dark opaque obsidian body with a big 2.5 centimetre khaki-coloured cappuccino foam head that slowly drops back leaving a streaks of lace inside the glass, rather good looking Milk Stout right here. 8/10.

S: BIG red coffee cherry upfront, mid espresso coffee hit, and nought much else. So far reminding me of my old favourite Founders Breakfast Stout (FBS) in that singular coffee aroma sorta way. Hey there’s been better aromas out there, but if this hits stride in the flavour department like FBS, well we’ll be on to a winner winner chicken dinner of a brew. 7/10.

T: Not bad, not bad at all, yep definitely a better coffee beer than the last (CoConspirators Beancounter) with the aforementioned red coffee cherries upfront, espresso coffee middle, some light smoky notes, plenty of sugar from the lactose to add both smooth body and sweetness. Look it does fall short of the glory of FBS but what a decent Milk Stout this is. 8/10.

M: Nice and thick as you’d expect, with a heavy(ish) body and an oily texture, along with a creamy carbonation – Green Beacon didn’t miss a beat here. 9/10.

D: As far as Milk Stouts go this ticks all the boxes it’s: dense, creamy, sweet and hardly bitter at all. The flavour combo in a Coffee Milk Stout (or Latte Stouts as I like to call them) is pretty hard to beat if you’re a fan of both coffee and Stouts, and what Green Beacon have done here is deliver a practically faultless brew that signals a return to form… also I’ve always seen Green Beacon as more of a paler beer maker [I have a theory that there are brewers that brew either pale or dark beers better and a few that do both exceptionally] so Allpress = success! 8/10.

Food match: I’m thinking of a rich hearty beef stew with this brew. Stew with brew!