And the Valley Drinks: Tin Roof's LAHBC Champion Milk Stout

Baton Rouge's Tin Roof has been making some very nice strides as a brewery, including a new, really nice tap room that is open Tuesday thru Saturday, with some happy hour specials, a trivia night on Thursday and a brewmaster's tour on Friday's at 6 p.m.

On top of the Tin Roof standards, they also include a few specialty brews on tap, like Amber Mounds of Joy -- a slightly sweet red ale, and Strawberry King Cake Killa, which was very surprising.

Among those concoctions, one that's available around town at other outlets -- I've spied it at the new City Pork Brasserie & Bar on Jefferson, and at the Chimes -- is their LAHBC Milk Stout. I don't have a lot of background handy, but it was apparently the winner of the Louisiana Home Brewers Competition, so Tin Roof decided to mass produce a batch. I have to say, I can see why.

So what exactly marks the difference between a milk stout and a regular one? Let's ask Beer Advocate:

Milk / Sweet Stouts are basically stouts that have a larger amount of residual dextrins and unfermented sugars that give the brew more body and a sweetness that counters the roasted character. Milk Stouts are very similar to Sweet Stouts, but brewers add unfermentable sugars, usually lactose, to the brew kettle to add body and some sweetness.

Review:

Very typical milk stout, dark in color with a nice tan head. A little thinner in consistency than you might expect for a stout. The bouquet is kind of neutral, with just a hint of smokiness from the roasted malts. And on the open it's smooth -- takes a second for the flavor of those malts to roll over your tongue. Finishes with that combination of sweet and a little bit sour of the milk flavor. It's an interesting profile -- the flavors roll through at a consistent pace. Takes a few sips to really get a feel for them. At 5.5 alcohol by volume, and a little lighter in texture, it's a little more sessionable than the average milk stout, too. I give it 4.5 out of five stars.