Neapolitan Milk Stout is here!

We knew it was something special when we first tried it in 2013, and so when the stout won Grand National Champion at the US Beer Tasting Championships in 2014, it was no surprise; and neither has the overwhelmingly positive response by UK drinkers. Here are extracts from some of the tweets and reviews of this unique beer.

It's been called many things including "luscious", "awesome", "surprising", "interesting", "super smooth" and "incredible". Our favourite perhaps was "inimitable" (Imbibe UK)

The eagerly awaited kegs and bottles of Neapolitan Milk Stout have been making their way across the Atlantic and have now arrived safely in our warehouse. So keep an eye out for this magic stout on draft in some of the quirkiest and more inspiring bars and restaurants in the UK. There is nothing mainstream about this stout!

Neapolitan Milk Stout Reviews

"Absolute Winner"

Incredible Milk Stout from Saugatuck Brewery that tastes exactly like Neapolitan Ice Cream! This will be your dessert. An absolute winner in our book

(Beer Hawk)

"Pudding in a Glass"

A newly-arrived beer from the USA, however, goes a step further and creates its own pudding in a glass.

Neapolitan ice cream is the inspiration and, from aroma through to finish, this near-black beer really does emulate that Italian confection, with chocolate, strawberry and milky vanilla all sharing the limelight. 

Pale, carapils, crystal, roasted and black malts comprise the grist, along with flaked barley and flaked oats, which help the added lactose provide creaminess. Some fruitiness is derived from the Cluster and Cascade hops, but strawberry flavouring is also used.

The aroma is remarkably similar to the ice cream inspiration, loaded with chocolate, vanilla and strawberry. 

In the taste, the bitterness is not too heavy, leaving plenty of sweetness on the palate. But, at the same time, this is not a sickly, cloying confection, helped by the fact that the body is rather light for the 6% alcohol.

Strawberry notes on the swallow merge into bitter chocolate and roasted grain in the drying, mostly bitter finish, with coffee slowly building alongside a lingering creamy sweetness.

(Jeff Evans, Inside Beer)

"Drink This Now"

It’s not often that a beer sets high expectations for itself and then actually follows through.... Saugatuck’s Neapolitan Milk Stout immediately tells you what the beer should taste like. You expect three separate flavours, like the ice cream, starting with chocolate, progressing to vanilla as an intermediary, then that sort of artificial strawberry sweetness that tastes like a synthetic representation of the colour pink. This beer pretty much nails it.

The Michigan brewery has been distributing in Chicago since September of 2012, and their initial offerings have flown under the radar. Brews like the Pier Cove Porter and Bonfire Brown are fine, but the Neapolitan speaks to something a little deeper. Head Brewer Ron Conklin told me that it started as a homebrewing recipe and kept getting tweaked. It was released by Saugatuck in 2011.

This beer mixes together dark roasted chocolate malts on top of chocolate, strawberry and Madagascar bourbon vanilla extracts. Purists may scoff at the use of extracts, but for a beer like this, I think it’s fair to use them in order to replicate the somewhat artificial flavour of the ice cream itself. Using actual strawberries may be the cooler thing to do, but it wouldn’t nail that blend of ice cream flavours the same way.

This beer pours deep black with a halo of mahogany and offers a long-lasting, hearty tan head. That foam gives way to a creamy mid-bodied beer that coats but doesn’t linger or stick to the palate. There’s a long tail of flavour, but the little sparkle of carbonation right at the finish makes this something that won’t make you feel parched.

The flavour comes on you in three distinct sections, as it should. Lightly roasty chocolate notes start you off, then syrupy vanilla drifts in before just enough strawberry finished off to let you know it’s there. It’s not faint, but it’s not overwhelming. The more you drink, the more it layers itself across your palate so the tastes become less distinct. It’s best to sip this slowly—and not because of the 6.3% ABV, but to keep the experience of the beer as true as it can be.

As it warms, notes of cola, dates, walnut, espresso and a little savoury root beer work their way in to complement the chocolate. The beer leaves a long tail of strawberry on the palate that’s backed up by vanilla. Like an ice cream float without the ice cream, it’s truly a dessert beer.

(Time Out)

You can buy your own magic stout from Beer Hawk or Beers of Europe

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