Rye Milk Stout
Hawk Tail Brewery

A- Pours a solid dark chocolate brown color, with a head that is deep tan in shade, and while it starts out about two fingers in thickness, it peters out rapidly, and even has the sound of a soda pop, swiftly becoming nothing more than a memory....not even a ring! The carbonation appears to be heavy, as I can see quite a few bubbles popping along the top of the liquid, and as for the lacing, well there really isn't much of anything here either, with only a smidgen of foam around the inside of my glass, that quickly disappears into a watery film. Overall this looks like a black coffee sitting inside of my tulip.

S- There is a very enticing aroma of dark chocolate, fresh cocoa powder, black French press coffee, and a hint of spicy rye grain upon the initial smell. Underlying aromas of charred aged barn wood, coffee crisp chocolate bar, soft vanilla bean richness, and a finish that is of slight hop bitterness, but more so dry Earthy prairie soil and Turkish Delight.

T- The flavors follow suit to the aromas somewhat, with the dryness of the Rye coming through right away.....after this, I am getting coffee, table cream, milk and dark chocolates, mellow charred malts, chocolate covered Italian Roast coffee bean, smooth Kahlua coffee liqueur, dry plain Triscuit crackers, some sweeter Lactose notes for sweetness and the finish is just ever so bitter with hop cones.

M/O- The mouthfeel is decent, being medium to full in body and the carbonation is quite smooth, which I think is proper for the style. Its a very flavorful Milk Stout, and is drier than normal due to the use of the Rye grain, however, I quite like it and find the drinkability factor quite high! I will definitely seek this out again, and think that it is an interesting take and balances out well. Cheers!

 

"Roasted, Complex, Smooth"

Appearance - Pours a jet black with three fingers of frothy mocha tan head.

Smell - earthy and leafy hops, lactose sugars, roasted malts, spicy rye, cocoa, coffee bean, and earthy yeast.

Taste - earthy and leafy hops upfront then quickly goes into the lactose sugars, spicy rye, roasted malts, cocoa, and coffee bean. The earthy yeast rounds out the brew.

Mouthfeel - Medium bodied with moderate carbonation. Finishes silky smooth with the rye, cocoa, and coffee bean lingering.

Overall - A flavourful milk stout. For my first go with this brewery, this one is takes the traditional milk stout elements and utilizes spicy rye to its advantage. A pleasant brew indeed. I like the detail of the hawk on the can.

 

355ml can - not much info abounding on the Interwebs for this offering. Oh well.

This beer pours a fairly solid black, with subtle amber highlights, and two flabby fingers of puffy, loosely foamy, and bubbly brown head, which leaves a few instances of cannonball splash aftermath lace around the glass as it quickly sinks out of sight.

It smells of lightly roasted, bready and doughy caramel malt, a hint of spicy rye graininess, medium cocoa powder, faint cafe-au-lait, and very tame earthy, musty, and floral green hop bitters. The taste is milk chocolate, gritty and grainy caramel malt, day-old coffee grounds, cold cream, toasted rye crackers, and more understated leafy, herbal, and dead floral hoppiness.

The carbonation is quite tame in its lackluster frothiness, the body a decent middleweight, and more or less smooth, with a nice airy creaminess pretty much there from the get-go. It finishes off-dry, the milky character showing some lingering razzmatazz.

Overall - I don't know how much the rye adds to the equation here, as the base milk stout seems to work just fine on its own. Maybe they just had some extra grain lying around, and used it for shits and giggles. Or waste not, want not. Or who cares, this is good stuff!