The contract brewed US version of a classic brewed under license from Whitbread from England. This is one of the great beers I have never gotten around to trying.
A sweet or even milk stout if lactose, milk sugar, was actually added by the good brewers of Ohio - a practice which may well be outlawed in the UK. A deep espresso foam head resolves quickly to a rim with some foamy patches fed from the active deep brown brew below. It is not as thick or heavy a stout as I might have expected but rather a mid-weight smooth creamy brew. I'd say it was like bubbly chocolate milk if it were not for the secret rule of beer reviewing that you are never supposed to say "bubbly chocolate milk". Rather, it is more like milk chocolate, plus a bit of dark coffee and a tiny bit of herby hop and maybe licorice at the end just to place a stop to it all.
It is quite pleasant, subtle and easy without being at all flabby or simplistic - and, working from memory, well flattered by the Lancaster Milk Stout I had last summer but never really reviewed. One review is quite unhappy though most BAers approve some heartily.
Comments
Knut Albert Solem - August 23, 2005 5:34 am
Alan,
I don't think it is the use of lactose that is prohibited in Britain, but more the use of terms like "milk stout". This might lead potential drinkers to believe that this is a product which is - heaven forbid - good for them. I have a hazy memory of reading about this somewhere. There was a tendency in the early years of the twentieth century to connect health claims to just about anything, which the health authorities later clamped down on.
Knut Albert
Alan - August 23, 2005 7:41 am
That makes more sense. I am glad we have a foot in the door with EU regulation interpretation. I think it is a lovely style - stout without the roast but all the rich.
Matthew - August 23, 2005 7:10 pm
How long has this been contract-brewed? I've had it, but not for some time. It is an excellent example of a milk stout. The best one that I ever had (Bandersnatch, from Tempe, Arizona) is no longer available, alas.
Some day I need to do a taste comaprison between Mackeson's, Left Hand (which is great), and Hitachino (from Japan). Any others? This is a rather rare style.
Alan - August 23, 2005 8:24 pm
Lancaster Brewing from PA has one, too.
Alan - August 23, 2005 11:01 pm
Hey - I have a Left Hand Milk Stout in the stash! Looking forward to it now.
Knut Albert Solem - August 24, 2005 6:11 am
What does the glove do among the beer bottles? You don't throw them around, do you?
Alan - August 24, 2005 7:52 am
Its just still life art of things I like, Knut.
Beered - August 24, 2005 1:34 pm
The stash is beautiful, really just beautiful.
Is it perpetual? A bottle in, a few out? Without end into eternity?
Wow
Alan - August 24, 2005 1:54 pm
You got it. The stash is a source of well being in itself. I will do a little renewal from SW Ontario perhaps this weekend, maybe a run to Syracuse on Labour Day weekend twinned to the NY state fair, too. It is all about staging the sources of enlightenment out before my mind's eye and upon the calendar in a prudent moderate plan. I have a post to do about two more wittes as well as four separate brewers (Middle Ages, Left Hand, Wolavers and Mendocino) plus a bunch of singles for the quick notes. Add the post or two about beer news every week and a post or two from BLork every month and that stash should hold me until 1 October. I am not exactly a big imbiber.
But then the stash would be gone. So it needs constant renewal. I have, conversly, one small problem of the last IPA by Great Divide that I suspect I will not pop given the effect sulfates have on my skull. I wish I could award it as a prize.
Medical Billing Services - August 24, 2005 3:32 pm
Does anyone know if thi beer is available in Arizona? I have been looking
FClass Travel Tips - September 13, 2005 8:04 pm
I had one, what a fantastic brew.
Alan - October 31, 2006 1:12 pm
Used to be regularly available at a local store where I grew up & went to college. I have an extensive past relationship with this one! Think of it as a great brew when you are also in the mood for a jamocha shake. Yes,... even a beer Milkshake!
Alan - October 31, 2006 1:34 pm
I had a moment's confusion there - this is another Alan, not editor Alan (me).
kyle - June 24, 2008 10:01 pm
So, I just had a six of this fine brew, and was so enthralled with it that it was gone that night. I've been on my local beerman's case, and he recently got a, well, CASE in that I promptly bought.
There is no end of love I have for this beer. Spread word, this stuff is delicious.
Dan Singleton - December 5, 2008 2:19 pm
I have had little luck finding this beer. I found a case in Point Marion, PA at a distrubutor located in an alley behind a church. This was during the last week of October 2008. I bought two six packs in Albuquerque, NM after that but was told they were then out of stock. During the road trip back from the Pittsburgh area (Point Marion connection) a stayed overnight in Cincinnati, OH. I located the telephone number for the Royal Imports outfit that was brewing this beer but neither I nor the operator could any response other than the telephone number had been disconnected. The earlier bottles indicated that Mackeson was made by the Whitbread Brewing company in England but the newer ones indicate that it is made by Interbrew UK. Of course it was also made in Cincinnati by Royal Imports under the supervision of the English company but I don't think Royal Imports exists any more. Maybe the brewing of this excellent beer has been caught up in the giant Ambev beer brewery by-out. Does anyone know if Mackeson is being made anymore in the United States?
Dan Singleton - December 5, 2008 2:31 pm
My previous posting was incorrect concerning the large beer company Ambev. Interbrew merged with Ambev in 2004 to form Inbev. Now the conglomerate has merged with Anheuser-Busch to form Anheuser-Busch Inbev or AB Inbev. I just hope this large company does not forget about this excellent beer, Mackeson.