Left Hand Milk Stout

Dark and delicious, America's great milk stout will change your perception about what a stout can be. Preconceived notions are the blinders on the road to enlightenment. 'Udderly' delightful.   I haven't had a Milk Stout before so I'm pretty excited to try this one.   Still getting a bit used to the darker beers, so my hopes aren't too high on this one.   Low expectations going in might mean a high reward.  Far more malts are present in this beer than hops so it shouldn't be very bitter.   IBUs sit at 25 and the ABV sits at 6%.  I feel a 6% ABV is rather low for a stout.  Left Hand Milk Stout has one quite a few awards at various beer festivals and a lot of those awards have been golds.   So it's widely considered a very good brew.


On with the show.

A:  Pours with very black body an off white head.. Not completely black as there is a bit of red hue present along the edges..    The head disappeared completely on me within seconds.  A quick swirl reveals that the beer does leave quite a bit of lacing on the glass, although that too slides down back into the beer fairly quickly.  Just based on the appearance it seems a little bit more watery than I would thought.


S:  Heavy uo front on the roasted malt scent..  I'm having a hard time smelling the chocolate or coffee that some claim to find in this brew.   A tinge of sweetness follows the roasted malts..   A sweet milk like scent.  I guess the proper terminology would be "lactic notes."  That milk scent isn't powerful by any means, but it is there. 


T:  Definite roasted malts up front on the taste although not as heavy as the scent would indicate.  It's actually much more well balanced than I would have though based on the scent.  The roasted malts quickly give away to a mild sweet cream flavor.   There's also a bit of a fig taste to the beer that seems to be mixed in with the cream flavor.   They seem to hit you at about the same time.  The finish on the beer is kind of hard for me to put my finger on.   A get this slight twinge of sourness, almost like spoiled milk, but it quickly goes away and leaves the roasted malt flavor.


M:  Low to medium bodied with little to no carbonation present.   I expected this beer to be much more full bodied even after I claimed that I felt the appearance did seem a bit watery.


D:  Definitely a very drinkable beer.  I wouldn't call it sessionable though due to the sweetness.   Seems like after 2 of these I wouldn't want anymore.


Grade:  One thumb up.   It's a good beer, not a great beer.   The awkward spoiled milk like taste was a bit of a turn off although not enough to ruin the experience of the beer. 

Samuel Adams Cream Stout

I normally stay away from stouts.  Heck, I stay away from dark beers in general.  I have no idea what persuaded me to try this beer.  Maybe it was the cream title that was attached to it, who knows?  Sam Adams says, "The cappuccino of beers. Roasty, smooth and sweet.  Samuel Adams® Cream Stout is a true cream stout, balancing body and sweetness, with the natural spiciness of grain and hand selected English hops. Our brewers use generous portions of roasted chocolate and caramel malts as well as roasted unmalted barley to impart a fullness of body, a roasty malt character and rich, creamy head. Its dark, mahogany color makes it almost as easy on the eyes as it is on the palate."   It's totally something under normal circumstances that is complete turn off to me.  Even when the girl poured it, I laughed.  I had no clue what I was getting myself into.



A -  It was like looking into the night sky.  Black like water in the Gulf of Mexico.  Frothy and fluffy tan head with tons of lacing.  Based on first look, it seems like a BIG beer that is going to be very filling.   I was shocked it find out this was only 4.9% ABV based on the look. 

S - Roasted coffee is the dominant scent in this brew.  There's also hints of chocolate and caramel stuffed in here as well.

T - A chocolatey coffee taste hits the tongue on first taste.  It's a pretty bold taste, but what surprised me is the sweet vanilla finish which I was a huge fan of.   The sweet vanilla in the finish also gives way to a sweet milky taste.

M - Full bodied and creamy.   Very little carbonation if any at all.

D -   If you like the taste, it's a very easy beer to drink.  Goes down without a fight.  Due to the full taste and feel of the beer, I'm not sure you could drink a whole bunch of these.  It's more of a dessert.  One or two of these and you'll be full and satisfied.

Grade -  I'll give it a thumb up.   I don't know if this is a ridiculously good stout or if my palate is finally accepting dark beers.     I'm just glad I went away from the ordinary and actually tried this beer.  I was rewarded nicely.