Udder Madness Milk Stout
Bastone Brewery

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This beer was served on tap at Bastone in Royal Oak, Michigan. It arrived in a generic pint glass, showing a grayed-Tootsie roll brown coloring. It held a one finger head of medium brown bubbles, showing nice retention. A thick haze cut clarity, but no sediment was noted. Carbonation appeared to be moderately active. The aroma was sweet, with milk chocolate syrups, powdered milk, lactic creaminess and acidity, plum fruitiness, caramel and charred chocolate malts, metallic Belgian yeastiness, gingerbread warmth, and moist devil food cake. Our first impression was essentially the same as with the first sniff: the beer was sweet and chocolatey, but with a good malty base. As we sipped, the flavoring opened up with white sugar cloy, lactic acid, white vinegar, creamy chocolate and lightly coffee malts, phenolic plastics, soft booziness, vanilla creaminess, and the faintest oily, resinous hops. The middle peaked with the most bite of anywhere in the sip, with bittered raw barley, metallic wheatiness, char, leathers, plum and red grape skins, sugary caramel malts to balance, and an off-color inky note. The ending wash definitely cut the peaking bite, as more milk chocolate squares, molasses, brown and chocolate maltiness, Graham crackers, raw honey, wet florals, earthen metallics, stone, and raw dried straw. The aftertaste breathed with milk and white chocolates, clover honey, rice krispies, Belgian wheat, powdered chocolate grain, musky yeast, unused charcoal, green grassiness, lavender, plum, crayon waxiness, and lacquer. The body was light to medium, and the carbonation was medium. Each sip gave decent slurp, smack, cream, from, and pop. The mouth was left coated and dripping wet with a light foam. This gave way to eventually light astringency and pucker, but without any finishing bone dry chalkiness and bite. The abv was appropriate, and the beer drank easily.

Overall, what we enjoyed most about this beer was its taste. Each note was deliberate, giving an ultimate blend of sweetness that was fitting for the style, and a uniquely deep, serious, Belgian flair that only Bastone could pull off. The latter wasn’t extreme or screaming, but rather just a piece of the curious puzzle that was this beer. The aroma was similar, but a bit light from the start. All the same notes were there, just a bit subdued. This was helped a bit with warmth, but never quite came to the full strength that was appreciated through taste buds. The feel, too, was on the light side, taking away from that desired creaminess that we look for in all stouts. This was an interesting beer to get a chance to try, and while it fits their rotating lineup well, we will hope for something with more aromatic punch, and more general fullness in their next dark beer.