Left Hand "S'mores" Milk Stout

It seems like I haven't had a Left Hand Brewing stout since June of last year. Indeed, it turns out that is the case. These guys have done a great job when they've gone outside the realm of stouts, but I really feel like a good stout is what these guys are about. Indeed, anytime I see a beer from Left Hand available in the wild, it will inevitably be the milk stout. Why not build on your strengths?

The beer appears to be black until it is brought up to the sunlight, and the sun demonstrates that it is a clear (not hazy) dark ruby in color with a minimal head that winds up just being a floating mass of bubbles that covers less than a quarter of the top of the beer. What I did not expect from the aroma was coffee, and I smell quite a bit of bitter coffee where I expected sweetness and chocolate. If the coffee winds up just being a base for other, more delicious flavors, I should be able to tolerate it well enough.

First sip tastes nothing like s'mores. That said, it actually tastes pretty good. The chocolate isn't nearly heavy enough, but the sweetness and a bit of creamy smoothness are sitting on top of a nice cracker malt to present a lovely beverage. The coffee aroma has translated into slight coffee bitterness with earth mixed in, but it does not detract from the overall relatively delightful nature of the beverage.

Tip-in is sweet cocoa mist above cracker malt with no carbonation interfering with the tasting. The middle turns up the carbonation quite a bit, but the flavors are more subtle and dulled then the average dessert beer would typically be presenting. The finish brings forth the coffee and earth with a dryness that comes to overtake all of the sweetness that had been omnipresent through the other parts of the drink.

Bottom Line: Laid-back and enjoyable.

3.75/5