Keegan Mother’s Milk

Beer sellers: Bierkraft

ABV: 6% (not officially declared)
Origin: Kingston, New York, USA
Website: www.keeganales.com

Keegan Mother's Milk

Located in a building from the early 1800s in the former capital of New York state, the Keegan Ales plant previously enjoyed a life as the Woodstock brewery. This closed in 2001 and was simply abandoned in situ, and in 2003 Tommy Keegan bought the lot, cleaning and refurbishing the kit and launching his own range of ales, with award winning results.

One of the first beers was this rather unusual speciality, a sweet oatmeal stout, which remains a signature product and was named as one of the ten best stouts in North America by the New York Times in 2010. The exact ingredients aren’t declared but I assume they include lactose. The ABV is also not mentioned on the brewery website, and I’ve given the percentage most often seen elsewhere, including on Beer Advocate, though other sources range from 3% to 5.5%.

I tasted the bottled version, which pours a very dark ruby with big bubbles forming in a thick, deep fawn head. A leathery coffee, malt and creamy spice aroma yields deeper vegetal notes, while the palate is equally creamy, suggestive of oats, with more coffee, tangy fruit and a bite of roast. The beer slips unctuously down the throat, leaving notes of charred wood and dark chocolate offsetting sticky malt. To be honest it isn’t that sweet, considerably less so than a traditional milk stout, but it’s beautifully silky, and curiously refreshing.

Read more about this beer at ratebeer.com: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/keegan-ales-mothers-milk-stout/29342/26018/