A Stout Pair

Since I drink more than I write, I am constantly behind in posting about beers that I have recently consumed. In this post, I will cover two brews from a particular style, stout. Stouts are darker ales (almost to black) that use roasted malts and tend to have favors of chocolate and coffee. Stouts also tend to have higher percentages of alcohol which is where the term 'stout' originates. I have previously discussed two other stouts, Storm King Imperial Stout from Victory Brewing and Allagash Black.

In this post, I am adding Milk Stout from Left Hand Brewing and Black Mocha Stout from Highlands Brewing to the list. Both names are appropriately descriptive of the brews. As expected, the Milk Stout is very creamy thanks to addition of milk sugar (i.e. lactose). I had this beer on draft from our favorite neighborhood wine and beer store which also carries it in bottles. The Milk Stout was replaced at the tap with the Black Mocha Stout, and as expected, Black Mocha Stout has tastes of roasted coffee and chocolate. I thought those flavor were very faint, although perhaps subtle is a better word. The chocolate and coffee flavors were definitely not overpowering.