Oak Jaw Milk Stout

Resurrected from forgotten times and dancing around like a Thriller video zombie extra, I present the Oak Jaw Milk Stout. This was the second ever beer I brewed and one that unfortunately helped me realize I'm lactose intolerant. However, it finished exactly as I had intended and is a fantastic starter recipe, or an easy go to if you're looking to add another flavor to your fridge in these winter months.

The base is Special Dark and Pilsen LME with a full pound of lactose added in. The recipe I was basing this off of called for a half pound of lactose and a half pound of maltodextrin, but as the fella at Brew Camp said "it's a milk stout, why not just make it all milk?" So I did. Cutting out the maltodextrin definitely helped make the finish a bit more creamy and truly gave the beer its milky flavor.

Caramel 120L, Roasted Barley, and Dark Chocolate specialty grains are steeped for about 45 minutes before adding the jars of LME to provide the majority of the depth of flavor. To be entirely honest, I brewed this years ago and don't really remember the complexities all that much, but I do remember it being quite well balanced. In fact, it was the first time I was able to eliminate the "homebrew-y" flavor so many of us come up against at the beginning.

Now, let's talk a minute about the poison lactose as folks are a bit divided as to when this should be added. It simply needs to be added before bottling, so there are a few ways this can be done. You can do as I did for this recipe and add it to the boil directly after the LME, or you can mix it into the bottling water boil along with the priming sugar. You can even add it later in the boil if you want to be super fancy. In my opinion it doesn't matter much as any of the options will give you the results you want.

However, my opinion really should be rendered void because I've only made one batch of the stuff and can't digest it. So, the main thing to keep in mind is that no option will affect your overall ABV. Even though lactose is indeed a sugar, it's unfermentable by brewer’s yeast so the ABV won't be affected whether it's in there for fermentation or not. However, when you choose to add the lactose will affect the beer’s character, so toy around with different recipes and see which version you like best. The creamy texture it gives the beer will definitely leave you wanting to make more than one, so dive in.

You can find the full Oak Jaw Milk Stout recipe here. If you'd like to try your hand at a few more stouts, feel free to check out the entire Recipe page. As always, if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, please feel free to leave a comment below. Happy brewing!

French Toast Stout

Breakfast themed beers are nothing new, and for good reason - breakfast is a magical thing. Not only is it the most important meal of the day, it's arguably the most delicious. As such, it's no wonder that brewers try to capture that essence in beer with flavors of coffee, maple, and even bacon. One notable and appropriately named offering from Founder's Brewing is their widely acclaimed "Breakfast Stout", a rich oatmeal stout brewed with coffee and chocolate. And while "breakfast" may be figurative when it comes to beer, I choose to take it literally. In fact, first thing in the morning is often my favorite time to enjoy a brew - on my days off, of course. After I kiss my wife on her way to work, I'll cue up my favorite fishing program on the DVR, sit back, and enjoy a tasty malted beverage to ease into the day.

My favorite breakfast meal as a kid was a hearty stack of French toast, fried perfectly golden brown and doused in maple syrup. It's one of the first meals my mother taught me to cook for myself, and one that I all too seldom indulge in these days. As such, it served as inspiration for my latest homebrew. I knew I wanted to start with a basic milk stout base for that underlying sweetness and build flavors upon that, adding vanilla and cinnamon to build the flavor profile. I chose to base the recipe off Brooklyn Brew Shop's "Eggnog Milk Stout", and made substitutions as necessary.

Overall I feel like it came out pretty decent, with solid stout character and flavor. My main criticism would be that the cinnamon and vanilla weren't as pronounced as I would have liked them to be. I was wary not to overdo it, especially in such a small batch, but it needed a little more "oomph" to really set it apart. An expected disappointment was the lack of any maple flavor. As maple syrup is almost completely fermentable, you lose nearly all of the flavor associated with it. And considering the minute amount that was used used for bottling, I never really expected for it to add anything anyway - but it was fun to use.

With Winter winding down, this breakfast brew will help me while away the mornings until fishing season kicks off in earnest; then it's out the door with a granola bar. You know what they say - the early bird gets the fish. Or something like that.

Brewery Vivant: Tart Side of the Moon

Tart Side of the Moon is a special "Single Batch" release from Brewery Vivant, one of Michigan's best and most highly regarded breweries out of Grand Rapids, MI. This beer came in a pack of four pint sized cans and poured a rich thick body and was about as dark as a beer can get. It maintains a nice head that actually appears to be darkened as a good stout should, in my opinion. This is a great beer with just a slight tartness, but what really shone through was mostly dark stone fruit and malt character. Some hop flavor was apparent and played a good supporting role, but was not overpowering to the stout complexity. A very great beer but a little on the pricy side.

Style: Belgian Inspired Dark Farmhouse Ale

ABV: 9.8%

Serving Type: Can

Availability: Single Release

Dark Horse Brewing - Holiday Stout Series

Stout Season - that wonderful time of year when you step outside and you can't feel your face (for those of us here in the North, anyway). When you're chilled to the bone and it's dark out at 5:00pm, what better way to instill a little warmth in your soul than a dark, strong beer full of robust flavor and character? How about five? Michigan's own Dark Horse Brewing delivers with their Holiday Stout Series. As somewhat of a DIY "beer of the month club", a different stout is released on the first of each month, October through February, to lead the way through the Winter doldrums to the promise of warmer days. With the final brew of the series on shelves now, I took a moment to sit back, line 'em up, and knock 'em down...

One Oatmeal Stout

Style: Oatmeal Stout

ABV: 7.0%
Serving type: Bottle
Availability: Annual Specialty (October release)

Appearance: Pours black, surprisingly effervescent. Tall tan head remains throughout
Aroma: Wet grain and old barn wood, bitter chocolate
Taste: Coffee, chocolate malted milk-balls, burnt sugar
Mouthfeel: Creamy, frothy
Overall: A good start to the series, if a bit thin for an oatmeal stout.


Too Cream Stout

Style: Milk/Sweet Stout
ABV: 7.5%
Serving type: Bottle
Availability: Annual Specialty (November release)

Appearance: Black in color, tan head dissipates quickly
Aroma: Sweet toffee and caramel sauce
Taste: Mellow roasted flavor, toffee notes carry through leading to bitter chocolate and coffee on the finish
Mouthfeel: Smooth, velvety
Overall: I would have liked a little more sweetness, especially with such delicious aromas.


Tres Blueberry Stout

Style: Fruit Beer (Stout)
ABV: 7.5%
Serving type: Bottle
Availability: Annual Specialty (December release)

Appreance: Black in the glass, tan head lingers
Aroma: Fresh blueberries, chocolate
Taste: Dark chocolate, roasted bitterness gives way to fresh blueberries
Mouthfeel: A bit on the thin side
Overall: I'm generally not a fan of fruit beers, though this is quite palatteable. Blueberry flavors are subtle and well balanced.


Fore Smoked Stout

Style: Smoked Beer (Stout)
ABV: 7.0%
Serving type: Bottle
Availability: Annual Specialty (January release)

Appearance: Somehow blacker than black, no head retention
Aroma: Campfire and coffee
Taste: Smokey from start to finish. Tastes of charred wood mingle with roasted malt and slight chocolate and coffee
Mouthfeel: More substantial, this one has some body
Overall: I'm a sucker for smoked beers, and this one is tops. Excellent smoke flavor, but not overwhelmingly so.


Plead the 5th Imperial Stout

Style: Russian Imperial Stout
ABV: 11.0%
Serving type: Bottle
Availability: Annual Specialty (February release)

Appearance: Pitch black, leaves a dark amber glaze on the glass when swirled, no head
Aroma: Dark fruit, raisins and figs, booziness is apparent
Taste: Dark chocolate, dried cherries, and rich coffee
Mouthfeel: Boozy and warm, yet exceptionally drinkable. Velvety texture.
Overall: I kept my descriptions basic, but there's a lot going on here. I spent quite a while picking out new aromas and flavors with each sip as it warmed to room temperature.


All five stouts are respectable brews, but I feel that the standouts in the series are definitely Fore Smoked Stout and Plead the 5th Imperial Stout. The balance of smokey character in Fore is outstanding, and Plead the 5th is so complex and rich it leaves you begging for more. So when Old Man Winter comes a knockin' at your door, beat him back with a few bottles of tasty goodness from the folks at Dark Horse.

Or maybe just stock up, sit back, and hope for a snow day.

Begyle Brewing Company: Flannel Pajamas Stout

Begyle Brewing is a Community Supported Brewing Company located right down the street from me in the North Center neighborhood of Chicago. What started with a damn fine Kickstarter to raise enough money to buy their unique counter-pressure growler filler has turned into a full fledged microbrewery. Borrowing from the ideals of community supported agriculture, Begyle offers up growler subscriptions to customers as the basis of their operation. Their counter-pressure filler is key to this. Most growlers are over filled to ensure no oxygen is left in the bottle, which can lead to beer loss. The counter-pressure filler reduces beer loss and increases the life expectancy of each growler by evacuating the custom made growlers with CO2. The growlers are then filled from the bottom with the beer of your choice, and sealed. All in about 30 seconds. It's pretty damn nifty. However, I went the boring route and picked up a bomber of their Flannel Pajamas Stout.

Style: Winter Stout
ABV: 5.4%
Serving type: Bottle
Availability: Rotating

Appearance: Blacker than a moonless midnight.
Aroma: Coffee and chocolate come through the most with some roasted undertones.
Taste: About what you'd expect from the smell. Roasted coffee and chocolate throughout.
Mouthfeel: Thick yet silky.
Overall: A damn fine stout, but nothing over the top about it. The silky mouthfeel was maybe my favorite thing about it. Incredibly drinkable for such a warm and toasty winter brew. Not a ton of depth to the flavors though. Should you pick this up you won't be disappointed, but you won't be blown away either.

Style of the Month: Stout

After prolonged warnings from the Starks, winter is here and in full swing at long last. Along with the desire to sleep more, romantic 4:00pm sunsets, and dropping temperatures comes the gloriousness that is a well timed stout. Now, judge all you want about the picture, but I happen to enjoy a Guinness while partaking in one of my favorite winter hobbies: early morning EPL action at the local watering hole. I apologize for nothing. There's something magical about the eternal blackness of a stout warming the cockles of our hearts deepest and darkest cockles. And it's those cockles' cockles that we here at Brew Day are going to explore in depth this month with several reviews, recipes, and maybe even a few tips on how to get the most out of this season's most satisfying barley pop.

Traditionally speaking, stout meant "proud" or "brave" and had less to do with beer than our dearly departed Joffrey Baratheon did with those adjectives. However, stout eventually came to mean "strong" and was a generic term for the strongest or "stoutest" porter, usually weighing in around 7% or 8%. And when I say traditionally, I mean the way back traditions of the 17th century. The term stout first officially came about in the Egerton Manuscript in 1677 to describe a strong beer, but not necessarily a dark one. Fast forward to the new wave movement of the 1720s and that's when the term porter came into play for dark beers made with roasted malts. The higher gravities of these newly minted porters were known as "stout porters," thus marrying stouts and porters in what is easily the happiest union known to humankind. In more recent years, stout has become associated with dark beer rather than just strong beers. That title now belongs to the Imperials... but more on those another month.

From the brewing side of things stouts are characterized by the use of roasted malt or barley. The beauty of these bad boys is that they come in all sorts of varieties. Dry/Irish, Imperial, Baltic porter, Porter, Milk, Oatmeal, Chocolate, Coffee, and the up and coming Oyster stout are all pulling up a spot at the bar. We'll be examining as many of those delightful and murky pints as we can this month.

From my end of things, I'll be reviewing some of Chicago's lesser known breweries. Begyle, Lake Effect, and Flesk are currently representing the City of Broad Shoulders in the form of bomber bottles in my fridge. I'll also be resurrecting the Oak Jaw Milk Stout recipe from years past for those looking to add some lactose to their beverages.

Over at Odd Duck, Mr. Sova will be turning his attention to the great state of Michigan and Dark Horse's five stout series, highlighting Plead the Fifth above all else. Tremendously looking forward to what he'll be brewing up as well. Three words. French. Toast. Stout.

Lastly, MacLeod 9 will be bottling up and culminating the year long project of a bourbon barrel aged stout. All of us are a little excited about that one... so keep ya eyes peeled for his full write up. In the meantime, he'll also keep the focus on Michigan and review some of Bell's darker tasties.

And so, for the first time, we're off and running with a full month of one style. Thank the old Gods and the new for the Starks inevitable accuracy and the shadowy beers that come with it!