Coffee and Cream Stout

I've mentioned that lactose is often used in brewing beer to make the variation called milk stout. Wikipedia gives this definition:

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 Stout, for which the original brewers claimed that "each pint contains the energising carbohydrates of 10 ounces of pure dairy milk".

Which should get you to say, "Wow, that's a lot of milk."

How bad is milk stout for you? As I wrote in Lactose in Beer?

How much lactose is left in the beer? You won't be surprised to learn that it varies too much with the recipe for a definitive answer. I did a calculation from one recipe and found that it resulted in about half as much lactose as a glass of milk. Other sources say, however, that the lactose content is small for some milk stouts. If you drink for flavor and not a buzz the lactose shouldn't be a problem.

That Wikipedia page also mentions a variation called "coffee stout."

Dark roasted malts, such as black patent malt (the darkest roast), can lend a bitter coffee flavour to dark beer. Some brewers like to emphasize the coffee flavour and add ground coffee. Brewers will often give these beers names such as "Guatemalan Coffee Stout", "Espresso Stout", "Breakfast Coffee Stout", etc.

The ABV of these coffee flavoured stouts will vary from under 4% to over 8%. Most examples will be dry and bitter, though others add milk sugar to create a sweet stout which may then be given a name such as "Coffee & Cream Stout" or just "Coffee Cream Stout". Other flavours such as mint or chocolate may also be added in various combinations.

I noticed a mention of one at the phillyburbs.com site.

On tap now at Triumph Brewing Company of New Hope is the Coffee and Cream Stout. A hybrid style of beer created by crossing coffee stout with milk stout. Adding unfermentable milk sugar (lactose) in the kettle results in a texture that is rich, chewy and, quite literally, creamy.

One more thing you have to watch out for, making you even more paranoid. You can thank me later.

Alcohol for Vegans

I admit that I was startled the first time I heard that you could find lactose in beer. With all due modesty, that means that most people don't have any idea that beers like milk stout, liquors that are cream (not creme) liquors, and even some wines that are "fined" with milk all contain dairy. The amount of lactose and of dairy varies from significant to infinitesimal so it's next to impossible to give guidelines of whether any any individual name, brand, or type might give you problems.

And vegans as well as those keeping kosher may need to avoid products with animal-based ingredients entirely. Where do you go for a list of those? How about Barnivore: Your vegan wine and beer guide.

Barnivore compiles information on hundreds of beer, wine, and liquor companies and rates them as vegan friendly or NOT vegan friendly. The companies that get the dreaded NOT are usually ones that use animal products in the fining process. What does that mean for any individual bottle? Fortunately, the listing for each entry explains the details in more, um, detail. Animal products are not always the same as dairy products so the guide is stricter than we would need, but I don't know of any sites that concentrate solely on dairy in the same way. If you do, please let me know.

Milk-Hearted Stout

On New Year's Day I skipped the endless bowl games for a marathon on Turner Classic Movies, with all three of the That's Entertainment! clip shows from the vaults of MGM and a special prize of That's Dancing! as well. Movie buff heaven. Somewhere in the middle of That's Entertainment II appeared Nelson Eddy in New Moon, yet another historical mish-mosh, this one set in Louisiana and Martinique. Eddy is the Duc de Villiers, temporarily enslaved until a shipwreck, when he emerges as leader, needing to rally his troops. And what better troop rallier could there be than for him to burst out in song? This song: Give me some men who are stout-hearted men/Who will fight for the right they adore.

(I have to admit that when we were kids, we modified the lyrics slightly into: Give me some men who are stout-hearted men/And we'll show you some men who are fat. Belated apologies to Nelson Eddy, and the considerably classy composing team of Oscar Hammerstein II, Frank Mandel, Laurence Schwab, and Sigmund Romberg, giants all.)

Puns are in the air (remember "Love Is In the Air" by John Paul Young? Bet you don't.) and I can't help throwing a title of Milk-hearted Stout over the whole subject, the subject being the weird brewing process of adding lactose to beer.

Blame it all on Ferocious Fred, the name of the sweet porter brewed by Steve Urwin, the head brewer at High House Farm Brewery near Matfen, and named in honor of the original ferocious Fred, a very nasty bull.

The beer is somewhat milder:

Steve describes the nose as having chocolaty roasted, nutty toffee and spicy notes while the ale itself has a full bodied, smooth almost velvet texture.

So called sweet or milk porter/stout became popular in the years following the Second World War, but started to die out towards the end of the 20th century.

Now High House is leading a revival of interest in this nourishing stout which used to be prescribed for new mothers and invalids.

Milk stout is made from the addition of lactose to the beer, which gives it added body, sweetness and calories.

...

"The new beer is a delicious very dark porter, with a chocolaty flavour and a pleasing sweetness," said Steve.

"We wanted to create something a bit different for winter and Christmas this year, and decided on an old fashioned sweet porter, which we hope our customers will enjoy."

Milk stouts are coming back into favor in this country as well. Almost two years ago, I posted Lactose in Beer? which links to several American sources of the brew.

Salud!