Left Hand Milk Stout Nitro

Brewed By: Left Hand Brewing Co. in Longmont, Colorado 

Purchased: 12oz bottle from a 6-pack bought at Binny's in Chicago, IL; 2012

Style/ABV: Sweet Stout, 6.0%

Tonight I'm checking out a beer I've had before...but this will be the first time I've tried Left Hand's Milk Stout on Nitro. If you're wondering what a Nitro beer is...think Guinness Draught. Or even better: watch this awesome video. Nitrogenation is the process of adding nitrogen to beer (Nitro beer still has some CO2 carbonation, to provide body to the beer). Nitrogen has smaller bubbles than regular carbonation, and is apparently less harsh. It also results in more stable carbonation, and a more stable/thick/sustaining head. Of course, natural carbonation results from the fermentation process (alcohol and CO2 are byproducts as the yeast digests the sugars from the wort). Additionally, brewers can add sugar to the fermented beer, and the yeast will then go to town on the sugar creating more carbonation. I'm not sure how much the brewer controls for CO2 Carbonation vs. Nitro carbonation, or if they control for it at all. 

At any rate, with all that boring science shit out of the way, let me just introduce Left Hand Brewing. First off, props to Left Hand Brewing's awesome website. I really like the Left Hand website, and think it is well-designed. The brewery was founded in 1993, and is based out of Longmont, Colorado. 

Left Hand's story began back in 1990 when co-founder, Dick Doore, received a small homebrewers kit as a gift from his brother. He became obsessed with homebrewing, and eventually wound up in Colorado in 1993, where he met with former college-friend, and fellow Left Hand co-founder, Eric Wallace. Together, they began to brew beer, and decided to start a brewery. In the September of 1993, the two Incorporated (INC.) as "Indian Peaks Brewing Company," and found a brewery location in a former meat packing plant next to the St. Vrain River in downtown Longmont. Due to some copyright issues with the name (Indian Peaks was being used by another brewery), the company changed their name to Left Hand, in honor of Chief Niwot, whose tribe was from the local area. The name Left Hand is from the southern Arapahoe word, "Niwot," which means "left hand." The brewery opened its doors for business on January 22, 1994. By 1998 the brewery merged with Tabernash Brewing from Denver, and started its own distribution business, Indian Peaks Distribution Company (during the next 10 years, Tabernash was phased out and the Distribution Company was sold). In 2012, Left Hand ranked in the Brewers Association's Top 50 Craft Brewers. The brewery has continued to expand, and continues to be very successful.

Today's beer is worthy of special mention, as it is (I believe) the first American Craft beer to come in a Nitro bottle. During the 2011 Great American Beer Festival, Left Hand debuted their Milk Stout Nitro bottle. The beer is available in Colorado, Chicago, Austin, Boston, Phonenix, Atlanta, Cleveland, and New York City. Like I said...I've had the non-Nitro version of this beer before, and I have tasting notes. So I'll lay those out in a second.

Real quick: what is a Milk Stout? If you roll over to the BJCP, you can get some idea what to expect for the style. Wikipedia actually gives a nice summary of the style.

"Milk stout (also called sweet stout or cream stout) is a stout containing lactose, a sugar derived from milk. Because lactose is unfermentable by beer yeast, it adds sweetness, body, and calories to the finished beer. Milk stout was claimed to be nutritious, and was given to nursing mothers, along with other stouts, such as Guinness. The classic surviving example of milk stout is Mackeson's, for which the original brewers claimed that "each pint contains the energising carbohydrates of 10 ounces of pure dairy milk". In the period just after the Second World War when rationing was in place, the British government required brewers to remove the word "milk" from labels and adverts, and any imagery associated with milk."

Ratebeer claims that early brewers told people that the milk sugar provided health benefits...but really, all the milk sugar does is add calories to your beer....which makes you fat. Thus, Left Hand's Milk Stout is a Sweet/Milk/Cream Stout, but is preferably just a "Sweet Stout." The term "Milk/Cream Stout" seems to have been redacted for the most part, presumably because there are really no health benefits from this style of beer. Finally, this is an English style of beer that first appeared in London back in the 1800s, and features the addition of lactose, milk, sugar, or sweeteners to the beer.

With all of that said...let's talk about the Left Hand Milk Stout. Like I said, I've had the non-Nitro version before, and enjoyed it so much that I rated it as a light to solid Above-Average. In my tasting notes I mention that this beer is creamy, has roasted and nutty notes, milk chocolate, cocoa, and hints of milk/cream. I'll keep that in mind moving forward. If you go to the Left Hand Milk Stout Nitro page, you can get some info on the Nitro version of this beer. Clocking in at 6.0% ABV and packing 25 IBUs, this beer is brewed with Magnum and US Goldings hops, and Pale, Crystal, Munich, and Chocolate malts, and Roast Barley, Flaked Oats, and Flaked Barley. It's kind of like a sweeter version of an Oatmeal Stout if you think about it.

How to pour...

Lastly...before moving onto the review. This beer requires a hard pour. In order to unleash that Nitro fury and get that kick-ass cascade effect, you need to tip that bottle completely upside down and let the beer pour out. If you fuck up the pour, you will not get to behold all that Nitro glory. Pour hard, and pour bold. The beer has controlled carbonation that will not overflow your glass.

You need to pour the fuck out of this thing, but the end result is awesome. The beer cascades from bottom up, just like Guinness. You can see that awesome brown carbonation turn into wonderful dark beer. The end result is 2 to 3 fingers worth of super thick, creamy, sexy head. The head is as thick as they come, with a nice bready/light tan/light khaki color. This beer appears to be black or dark brown, but it is probably more brown/ruby red, with clear hints of ruby red escaping from the side. The head is sustaining like a beast, but as it starts to creep down a bit, it is leaving A TON of thick lacing. Lastly, I just want to say: I love the bottle art on this beer. Seriously, this bottle is all class.

Mid-cascade. So sexy. This is beer porn.

The nose on this beer is nice. You get a lot of roast, hints of those oats and flaked barley; I'm pulling out some nice chocolate notes, some nice light coffee notes, and a hint of instant milk. The nose is roasty, and malty. It's also sweet, and it has that hint of lactose. There's also some nice chocolate/coffee flavors dancing around in here. Moving on to the taste....

This beer is SOFT and SMOOTH and CREAMY. The carbonation on this beer is so incredibly moderate, and fluffy...this beer is like drinking a Stout pillow. The smoothness is only enhanced by the centimeter-plus of thick, creamy head that is hanging around. And the lacing on the glass as you drink this beer is spectacular. Nitrogen beers have that slightly oxidized character, but in this case it is desirable. There is a lot of roast in this beer, especially towards the middle and back. The roast is more mild, and not burnt like you sometimes get in more aggressive variants of the Stout style. Up front you get cream, sweet/sugary malts, and some lactose; the middle is more smoothness, with hints of burgeoning malts; the back end is roast, oats, hints of coffee, and a twang of burnt/roasted coffee beans. There are waves of flavors coming and going as well, including hints towards chocolate and some flashes of dark fruits. I'm also picking up a hint of caramel/vanilla and nuttiness.

Left Hand Milk Stout Nitro

This is a medium-full to full-bodied beer, with medium carbonation and the smoothest mouthfeel I've had in a long time. I want to see Bells Special Double Cream Stout on Nitro...oh man. This beer has great palate depth, and moderate complexity. For 6.0% ABV, the drinkability is through the roof! The Nitro does seem to thin out the flavors a touch, but the payoff is huge in terms of smoothness. Front palate is smooth with some lactose; the middle is more lactose with oats and burgeoning roast; the back end is big roasted notes that play wonderfully. 
  
Rating: Divine Brew

I'm feeling a light to decent Divine Brew rating on this beer. I really like what this beer has to offer, and I'm impressed with the Nitro bottle. I think this is more than a novelty: I think this adds a layer of depth to a style of beer that I really enjoy when I am in the mood for it. For me, the Nitro bottle elevates the Left Hand Milk Stout from something I enjoy to something I really want to drink. And that's pretty awesome. If you can find this beer...check it out. And make sure to pour it HARD! So until next time, don't drink and milk a cow.