Devour Horchata Imperial Milk Stout
3 Nations Brewing Co.

 

I picked up two four packs from Cedar Park, Texas's HEB while I was visiting the town for a King Crimson show. They were pretty affordable all things considered, something like $7-8 for each. Placed the beers in my motel room's refrigerator before hitting the show. So they were nice and chilly when I returned from my night of debauchery, and I intended to get quite shwifty. No date visible on the can, and I didn't have a glass with me, but certainly tasted nice. I brought home two of the 8 beers and after 30 minutes in the freezer, decided to pour one out and give it a proper review now that I'm home safely.

This stout is a very dark brown/amber, pushing into black territory. It's probably just because I got impatient and threw it in the freezer, but the medium-dark tan head didn't stick around too long, and very minimal lacing (actually none now that I'm nearing the end of the beer). The smell consists of faint malty tones with some nuttiness mixed in there, but there's not much to go by. While it tasted pretty thin at first, by allowing the beer to warm up a bit, I'm getting a little bit more of that silky, milky feel along with a little bit more depth to the flavor. There might be a little bit of chocolate/cocoa hidden away in there, but the beer itself is actually still quite thin; I will say I think I enjoyed it more out of the can in the hotel room, but I was also pretty high at the time. There's a little bit of a spice component, in line with the Horchata style. Maybe a little bit of vanilla bean or milk, but I mean really you'd have to be grasping at straws to keep throwing out buzz words for this beer - it's simply not that flavorful.

There's almost no alcohol flavor to speak of, at 8.3% this one could easily creep up on you if you're not careful. I'd say it's a medium-thin thickness, just enough weight to it so that it maintains a semblance of flavor. But honestly I'm not too too impressed, something is probably my fault, so when I drink the last one I'll try to make sure there's no error on my part as far as serving it properly. If I feel that I could make some corrections to this review I will be happy to come back and edit. But right now it's just an okay beer in my eyes. Good beer to get drunk on, and affordable, so there's always that lol. I'd drink it regularly if we had some down here in SE Texas, especially at that price.

Appearance: Massive, dense and quite persistent tan head crowns a dark amber body. Clusters of coarse bubbles cling to the glass wall beneath the surface, lacing of a different sort. The lacing above the surface is thick and patchy.

Aroma: Strong aroma of dark roasted malt, bitter cocoa and cold coffee, with a note of chocolate milk. I cannot detect any hint of the 8.3% ABV or the 25 IBUs of hops.

Taste: Opens with dark roasted malt. This is soon followed by cold and sweet coffee and bitter cocoa. There are notes of spicy, warming alcohol midway through the taste. Fittingly, cinnamon and vanilla appear later in the taste, with a bit of wood, as well. As the taste comes to a close, the hops assert with a moderate herbal bitterness. This and the bitter cocoa bring the taste to a harmonious close.

Mouth feel: Very smooth, full and soft, with only a slight hint of carbonation.

Drinkability/notes: A really nice example of the style, it seems quite "spot on". This would pair very well with chocolate desserts.

Presentation: Packaged in a standard twelve-ounce aluminum can, served in a La Fin du Monde chalice. Served at The Lake House.