IPA Laundry Fest Part Two- Left Hand 400 Pound Monkey English Style IPA

Left Hand Brewing Co.- You are pretty good. This beer is not. I don't know if the bottle I purchased is off, but this was a skunky, bland mess. I am sorry guys, but I won't get too descriptive. When I get descriptive and the beer is bad, brewmasters email me. But yeah, I am choking this down.

Left Hand Milk Stout

'This English style of beer, also known as Sweet Stout or Cream Stout, first appeared in London in the late 1800’s. The early brewers touted the health benefits of the milk sugar in this beer which today relates mainly to the increased amount of calories (no real health benefits…sorry). The milk sugar adds a well rounded sweetness to this dark beer and makes it an outstanding, year ‘round stout.'

Milk stouts have a fairly storied past, actually. In England, where they originated from, nursing mothers drank milk stouts because it was so 'nutritious'. Advertising made claims of 'healthy calories'. Calling a beer a 'milk stout' became illegal in England in 1945 because all a milk stout makes you is fat, not healthy. To make up for this I just took some vitamins with mine, so its fortified (right?).

You really can taste the powdered milk in this beer. It makes for a smoother stout than I am used to, a tasty stout. The usual suspects are all there- chocolate, coffee, malts but the milk and sugar round out the whole drink. Left hand did a great job with this beer. I have only had a few in my life but I am now quite sure that I am a fan of milk stouts. Huzzah.

Musical Pairing: The Church- Starfish (yeah, because of 'Under the Milky Way', I admit it)