“Whey Stout is a roasty milk stout enriched with lactose from our very own organic cow’s milk whey left over after making our Raw Milk C2 cheese. Our brewer’s yeast cannot digest the lactose sugar, meaning that it stays behind in the beer and enhances the sweetness and gives the texture greater creaminess.”

Glassware: Snifter.

Appearance: Mat black with a thumb of light brown head resting atop. Good retention and healthy lace work is strewn down the glass.

Aroma: Interesting. If we were blindfolded we’d be inclined to say this was a baby black IPA or at the very least an American Brown Ale. The typical Stout features i.e roasted malt, coffee, cocoa, licorice etc are completely MIA. What we get is a delicate fusion of wholemeal bread, chocolate powder, earthy hops, jammy dark fruits and a hint of orange citrus. Can’t help but pick up this kinda piney/spruce scent as well.

Flavour: Look to be brutally honest this should not be labelled as a Stout. As we eluded to on the aroma at the very least it could pass as an American Brown Ale. Hints of cocoa powder, toast, super subtle coffee and dark fruits is as bold as it gets. We understand they’re using whey as opposed to stronger tasting milk sugars so it’s not as sweet but there isn’t much sweetness to it at all. The somewhat piney and citrusy hops are almost the stars of the beer.

Mouthfeel: Smooth and well rounded. Nice bitterness which counteracts, slightly higher Co2 than usual. 5.8% ABV – pretty well buried.

Overall: Don’t know about this one. We sincerely love what these guys are all about: local ingredients, small batch, preservative free etc but the quality and execution is a bit off the mark. Call it an American Brown Ale and we’d reconsider.