1933 Barclay Perkins Milk Stout

Time to review my batch of the 2011 Fuggled International Homebrew Project beer. As I posted before, this year's recipe was a historical recreation of a 1933 Barclay Perkins Milk Stout. Due to a recipe formulation and scaling error on my part, the ABV fell short of the projected 4.4% by almost a full point. Regardless, this beer turned out to be a tasty sweet little dark brew that goes great beside some vanilla ice cream.

Starting Gravity: 1.041 (no lactose)

Final Gravity: 1.014 (1.027 with all lactose added)

ABV: ~3.5%

After pouring the jet-black beer, a tan head forms and settles down to a nice thin layer. Subtle aromas of dark caramel, cream, turn to maple syrup as it warms. A creamy sweetness dominates the flavor. There is little to no hop bitterness and what is there is tough to distinguish from the very mild roastiness. Sometimes I think it has a bit of a cola flavor. The body and sweetness are more than I would expect from a 3.5% beer, no doubt because of the large lactose additions. The flavor and aroma leave me thinking about invert syrup, roasted barley, and all the English brown, amber, and mild malts in the recipe.

At kegging time I boiled the second 1lb lactose addition in some water and then added it to the keg during racking. Having tasted the beer before the second lactose addition, I can attest to the additional level of sweetness that was contributed.

Check out how all the other participants' batches turned out.