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Beer Reviews

Too Cream Stout

Dark Horse Brewing Co.
Marshall, MI
USA
http://www.darkhorsebrewery.com

Style: Sweet Stout

Eddie’s Rating:
   (Outstanding within its style.)


Comments:
Nigel mentioned in one of his reviews that Michigan brewer Dark Horse did not distribute in Nigeland. Well, Nigel, either Nigeland is very, very small, or you didn’t look hard enough! Because on one of my forays out into the light (my pasty skin is quite sensitive to it, you see) I stumbled across a six pack of Dark Horse’s Too, the second entry in the brewery’s experimental stout series.

Too is a cream stout, which is a unique and very cool style. It’s brewed using lactose (making it a no-go for you dairy-hating mutants out there, colloquially called “lactose intolerants”), one of the few sugars yeast can’t eat. This adds loads of body to the brew as well as another layer of complexity.

The pour is dark and thick enough to put engine oil to shame. The head is not tan. It is a bona fide brown, and a bit thin, especially for a stout. Roasted and chocolate malts are literally wafting off the top of this beer, engulfing the senses long before my schnoz gets anywhere near the glass. The palate is all roasted coffee and burned toast, right from the beginning almost all the way to the end. Then it’s rich, dark chocolate with a very distinct taste of slightly sour milk. Yeah, you can indeed taste the lactose. It’s an acquired taste, but adds a lot of complexity to this beer, making it better with every sip. Halfway through the sixer I was hooked. I almost feel for you lactose intolerants. Almost.

Reviewed by Eddie Glick on April 5, 2007.

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