Goat Milk Stout
Brewery Ommegang

 

 

Look: It pours dark brown with some ruby high lights. The head is tan and head retention is good.

Smell: It has a combination of chocolate and graham crackers in the first aroma. There is some light roast and lactose in the background.

Taste: The flavors are highlighted by chocolate and lactose. There is some roast in the background with some vanilla. There is a very low level of cocoa.

Feel: It has a medium body with a sweet and roasty finish.

Overall, there is a good combination of dark malts although is is not as sweet as I expected and a bit more roasty that anticipated.

Beautiful three finger cap tops this black, thick looking baby. Classic appearance.

Roast coffee and a cream note too mix with cocoa and roasty bitter to make a wonderful aroma. A touch of earthy herbal comes in as it warms, makes it even better.

Mmmm, taste is just like the aroma, including the creamy note. Just the right amount of sweet and bitter in this to make it delicious.

The flavors wouldn't work this well if this was thicker bodied, or had more carbonation. Enough body to make it work, though, and it drinks easy, very soft on palate, with a finish that is a clean linger of beauty.

A real treat and not at all in the Belgian yeast flavor tradition these guys favor.

 

 

Poured from an undated 12oz bottle to a diagonal cut tumbler.
Very black opaque with fine lacing bubbles.
Don't know if it's me, but the aroma is almost non-existent. Maybe a slight floral/honey smell, but I could be imagining that.
Taste is subtle chocolate malt, bitter in front with a unique subtle sweetness at the end. Maybe unfermented goat's milk (which I've never tasted, so have no reference to).
Medium body, but nice mouth coating.
Nothing off about this beer and its pretty unique. I would have it again if offered, but I would not seek it out.

 

 

I guess you taste what an animal eats via its milk. Anyhow, the taste is quite meadow like meaning grass, alfalfa sprouts, clover, straw, buckwheat and oats. Pretty complex although not as sweet as some other milk stouts. Drying roast and burnt coffee lead to a sticky/acrid feel.

 

 

I am always intrigued by some of the bottles that I seem to routinely see in so many single-o coolers. I don't always buy everything that I see, but Ommegang is usually a solid bet.

From the Bottle: "Beekman 1802 and Brewery Ommegang are neighboring Upstate NY farms honoring like-minded traditions: locally-produced, fine quality goods - conceived, made, grown, and brewed right here. Reviving a century-old technique, our Goat Milk Stout uses the non-fermentable sugars found naturally in milk to create a full bodied beer with rich maltiness, subtle roastiness, gentle bitterness, and a light touch of sweetness. Pull up a chair: have a seat at our table."

I Pop!ped the cap to the gentle bleating of a goat! Not really. Still, it was a gorgeous bottle with a long neck & so I began a slow, gentle C-Line pour into the awaiting glass. The immediate uprush of head gave 'way to a pseudo-cascade which, in turn, created three-plus fingers of massive, dense, rocky, deep-tan/light-brown head with great retention, leaving amazing lacing in its wake as it fell. Color was Very Dark Brown to Black/Opaque (SRM = > 34, < 44) with NE-quality clarity & mahogany highlights. Nose had a milk chocolaty sweetness with just a hint of light smoke. Mmm. Mouthfeel was on the thin side for a Stout, not watery, but lacking depth of body. The taste was quite sweet, very much of milk chocolate & still with a light smokiness. Finish remained sweet, but that was okay. I kind of understand the "Good" overall score, but I would like justification since it seemed better than that to me. YMMV.