Homebrew Review: Sweet Stout

I have previously brewed a sweet stout, but after 3 months the balance between the hops and the sweetness from the lactose made the beer hard to drink. I also had a bit of fusels, which was probably because I didn’t make a starter. With this knowledge, I tweaked my recipe and I put the beer on the cake of my American Stout.

Review:
I opened the beer then ate dinner, so the beer is at a nice temperature. If I were to guess, I’d say it is at about 40-45 F. I always take a few whiffs of the beer in the bottle before I pour it, and this sweet stout has a nice roasted malt character with under tones of chocolate. A bit of the roasted malt gives an hint of coffee. It’s quite complex and smells great. As I decant the beer into a pint class, I can barely see through the beer. It’s thick, creamy, and has a slight ruby red undertone as the light shines through. There is a nice thick tan head upon the top of the beer, which looks pretty damn good if I say so myself. The head retention is okay, and eventually goes to a ring around the beer. When I smell the beer again, I get much more sweetness and chocolate. It’s almost like a chocolate stout with a tad bit more roasted malts.


As I sip this beer, I feel a huge complexity of flavours starting from roasted malts to chocolate sweetness to a bitter coffee flavour. What is quite shocking to me is the amount the beer changes around my tongue and mouth, yet combines into a amalgamation of flavours. The flavours really come together to makes a great balance, though. However, the beer is a little low on the carbonation, but that was on purpose to get a nice thick mouth feel a sweet stout should have. The aftertaste is completely clean, even though I used English Ale (US-04) yeast. I think what makes this beer so drinkable is the complete balance and how the flavours caress my tongue. One thing to note is that there is an aqueous note when you take a larger drink, which adds to the drinkability (like the eatability of Sun Chips). I think this is an all around solid Sweet Stout with the flavours I expected. However, my favourite part of the beer is that it’s subtle; it doesn’t come and punch me in the face. It lingers on my tongue and caresses it, making me want to drink more. As I write this review, I’m already halfway through the beer. I just cannot stop drinking it. I couldn’t help but think that a great dark chocolate candy bar or a sweet/rich chocolate cake would be immense.


I’d say it’s a successful home brew, and I don’t know exactly how I’d change the beer. However, I’d like to see how the beer tastes with 1 lb of Roasted and Chocolate malts instead of the ¾ of a pound. I’d probably try ESB or Irish yeast next time, as well.

Recipe:
Amount Item Type
7.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)
1.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM)
0.75 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM)
0.75 lb Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM)
0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM)
1.20 oz Magnum [12.00 %] (60 min)
1.00 lb Milk Sugar (Lactose) (0.0 SRM)

Measured Original Gravity: 1.064 SG
Measured Final Gravity: 1.024 SG
Actual Alcohol by Vol: 5.22 %
Measured IBU: 45
Mash Temperature: 158 F