Milk + Beer = Bilk

I know, I know. It sounds like an Onion headline.

But it's real, even if it's not coming to a supermarket near you anytime soon.


Unless you happen to be reading this from mainland China.

An article in the Mainichi Daily News reports that a brewery in Nakashibetsu, Hokkaido, developed a novel way of using the surplus milk that had been plaguing the town.

The idea for the drink was conceived after dairy firms threw out a huge amount of surplus milk in March last year. The son of the manager of a liquor store in Nakashibetsu, whose main industry is dairy farming, suggested the idea of producing the milk beer to local brewery Abashiri Beer.

...

Since milk has a low boiling point, the brewery took care to control the temperature during the boiling process so the milk wouldn't boil over. After they put beer yeast and hops into the drink and began the fermentation process, the beverage looked and smelled like tea with milk. However, when fermentation was complete and the drink cooled down, it had the same color as beer.

Since one-third of the drink is milk, the drink has been viewed as a good way to use up milk in the town. The drink got the thumbs-up from 30-year-old resident Kaori Takahashi, who took part in a tasting session.

"It's got a fruity taste, so it will probably go well with sweets as well," she said.