Marketing sweet stouts as nutritional was a great way in the late 1800s to garner interest, but lactose did not provide the promised nutritive value. Eventually, this hollow claim fell under scrutiny of British authorities, who mandated in 1946 that milk had to be stricken from the label as misleading. But brewers, ever the cagey, gave their brews names suggesting images of cream, milkmaids and dairies. Brewers outside the English mainland are under no such restrictions today, and lactose-enhanced brews made elsewhere, including America and even some of the British maritime islands, can be called milk stouts. American brewers have been at the forefront of reviving them.
The original Mackeson’s Milk Stout had a gravity of 1.054, roughly the same as the milk stout that brewers in North America make today. Between the world wars, British beer styles saw a significant drop in alcoholic strength across the board because of taxation and rationing. Mackeson’s dipped to 3.8 percent ABV, as it remains today. Savvy brewers took this opportunity to devise the low-gravity, highly flavorful brews that have helped sustain pub culture in Britain. Milk stouts proved to be a very popular style of beer in the first half of the 20th century and energized a preference for sweeter stouts in England. And while Irish stouts may sell better worldwide, it is the sweeter stouts that are more desired by craft beer lovers today. Of course, lactose is but one strategy that can be employed to craft a beer of sustained sweetness. Crystal malt in generous quantities will give the same effect but has an entirely different flavor. The milky, burnt-sugar flavor unique to milk stout is unmistakable and undeniable.
Milk stout has not seen nearly the resurgence among beer lovers that hop-accented American, Russian imperial and strong foreign extra styles have, but they do occupy an exclusive market niche. Some are widely popular, as they uniquely present a full-bodied, roasted, sweet alternative that delivers all the rich flavor of their stronger brethren without overpowering the palate with hops or the mind with alcohol. Much of that is due to the lactose. Lactose also provides a bit of viscous mouthfeel. Other than this unusual and definitive ingredient, milk stouts are brewed like any other stout, with grain bills of base, black patent and chocolate malts, and roasted barley to the whim of the brewer. All are excellent as dessert beers, rich and complex enough to complement, but not too filling.
This seemingly unassuming beer style that helped redirect tastes a century ago was actually quite revolutionary in its day. Perhaps this understated opulence is guiding modern beer lovers and brewers toward the more modest, yet full-flavored beers that are sometimes forgotten. Ironically, this step forward is actually a step into the past.
