Milk / Sweet Stouts are types of stouts with a larger amount of residual dextrin and unfermented sugars that give the brew more body and a sweetness that counters the roasted chocolate and coffee characters giving more of a milkshake taste. Milk Stouts are very similar to Sweet Stouts, but brewers add unfermentable sugars, usually lactose, to the brew kettle to add body and some sweetness.  The end result is a great desert beer.

This is a review of Southern Tier Brewing Company’s “Crème Brûlée Imperial Milk Stout”. It is part of a line seasonal bold Imperial Stouts called the Black Water Series that are bottled exclusively in 22oz bombers. Adjuncts in this brew include vanilla beans and lactose sugar.

Appearance: The hard pour into a pint glass looks like a syrupy, layered, chocolate brown with a dismal, one-finger pumpernickel head. It was served chilled.

Smell: This is one of the best smelling stouts I have had. I have sampled a number of vanilla added beers, which usually yields an unpleasant and often fake aroma. This one is sophisticated and complex with straight crème brûlée notes of toasted butterscotch, sweet cream, and vanilla custard.

Taste: The first sip is sweet with a freshly dissolved granulated sugar flavor and a caramel chewiness. A firm hop presence of the Columbus variety cuts off the sweetness in the finish and offers a bitter contrast.

Mouth feel: As it warms up the hop bitterness shines through and the caramel fades leaving the sugary sweetness to battle it out with the hops. The warmer is gets the balance starts to tilt to overly sweet while the hops struggle to keep up.

This beer is great for people with a sweet tooth. It is rich and complex and the perfect end to a hearty meal. Look for Southern Tier’s Black Water Series and Left Hand Brewery’s “Milk Stout” at your local ABC.

Beer blogger Adam Shugan can be found here every other Friday, and most other days at our Newberry Road store in Gainesville.