Sweet Stout
It might sound strange today, but there was a time when lactose wasn’t added to every beer style. In fact, the concept was once so innovative that it was patented in England. This directly led to the creation of milk stout, which is what sweet stout was called in England before lawyers got involved. I guess people could be confused when their beer didn’t look like a white Russian. The Dude definitely does not abide.
Lactose is a naturally occurring sugar in milk (the real kind from mammals, not the substitute kind from soybeans, almonds, or other plants). Commonly called milk sugar, it is a two-molecule sugar made of glucose and galactose and is a byproduct of cheesemaking. Unfermentable to brewer’s yeast, the sweetness and flavor of lactose remain in the finished beer, where it adds to body, sweetness, and flavor, as well as being an extra source of calories. Early advertisements said that a pint of milk stout contained as many energizing carbohydrates as a 10 oz. (300 mL) glass of milk. Quite the opposite of a “lite” beer.
Humans digest lactose with the help of the lactase enzyme; and those with a deficiency of this enzyme are known as lactose intolerant. Lactose is fermentable by bacteria that produce lactase, which explains yogurt, sour cream, cheese, and other milk-derived fermented products. But these bacteria are not typically present in beer brewing, except when making certain wild or sour styles. This is just a technical point for those who say that lactose is an unfermentable sugar . . . it’s just unfermentable by brewer’s yeast.
Once quite popular in England, the style fell from favor but survived long enough to be described by Michael Jackson, which pretty much guaranteed that U.S. craft brewers would learn of it. Some of the best examples today, such as Left Hand Milk Stout, are widely available in the U.S. Milk Stout from Lancaster Brewing Co., in Pennsylvania, is another solid example. I’m also quite fond of Bell’s Special Double Cream Stout, but it is stronger than most examples. The BJCP (Beer Judge Certification Program) places sweet stout in Category 16, Dark British Beer, as style 16A. Other members of this category are oatmeal stout, tropical stout, and foreign extra stout.
History
Sweet stout has a well-documented origin story as beer styles go, due to the patent I mentioned. William Melhuish received several patents between 1908 and 1912 for applying lactose to malt-based beverages, including stout. Mackeson, a brewery dating back to 1669 as the Hythe Brewery, acquired the original patent and launched its first milk stout based on it in 1909. It also licensed the patent to other breweries who would develop their own products with the provision that the stouts had to contain an appreciable amount of lactose. The patents were tested in court as unlicensed imitators appeared, but the patents were upheld. The Mackeson brewery was acquired by Whitbread in 1929, which gave the beer a wider distribution. It grew to be Whitbread’s largest selling brand by the 1950s.
Around the start of the 20th century, nutritional beers had a popular following in the British Isles. Marketed as having additional health benefits, beers like oatmeal stout, oyster stout, and milk stout were popular among people looking for an alternative to Irish (and English) stout. The calories and carbohydrates found in milk were seen as healthy and sustaining for working people, but also as restoratives for invalids and nursing mothers (surprisingly, this wasn’t the legal complaint . . .).
British breweries voluntarily stopped calling their products milk stout in the 1940s after complaints that the products contained no milk (despite the fact that original advertisements clearly stated that it had carbohydrates from milk, not actual milk). Mackeson changed their product to Mackeson Stout, later Mackeson XXX Stout as an export product. Once brewed in Cincinnati, Ohio, for the U.S. market, it is now made by Carib Brewery in Florida.
Mackeson became exclusively a bottled product in the 1930s, and ultimately suffered a decline in sales by the 1970s, like many once-popular darker beers (porter, mild, brown ale). Fortunately, it had successfully been exported as a style and became established in the developing craft beer scene in the U.S. and other countries. English examples saw the inevitable decline in gravity and alcohol in the same way as most other styles. However, it was not always a weak beer. Modern export strength versions are more like those from the early parts of the 1900s before world wars and taxes took their toll.
In the modern craft era, the style often seems to be interpreted as the stronger variety. This makes sense to me as lower-strength versions (often below 3%) could easily be confused with the sweet London brown ales. I find the sweetness tastes different, but the strength and color are often similar.
Sensory Profile
Sweet stouts are almost self-descriptive — it’s a stout and it’s sweet. Expect a dark brown to black color, usually opaque, with a creamy, tan to brown head. The flavor balance tilts sweet, sometimes with a bittersweet note not unlike strong coffee with cream. The body is medium-full to full, with a creamy texture. It is an average-strength beer, 4–6% ABV, with American examples often near the high end. The export strength Mackeson example was about 4.9%, not far off from the pre-WWII domestic strength.
Lactose can impart a subtle milk- or cream-like flavor, as well as adding to a creamy mouthfeel sensation (which is one reason why this style is sometimes called cream stout). The sweetness and richness soften the finish and temper the impression of bitterness in a manner similar to adding cream to coffee. Because of the desire for a smooth finish, the base stouts are usually not aggressively roasty or burnt tasting. Chocolate and coffee flavors are typical, with the lactose often giving these a milk chocolate or mocha impression. Some background malt complexity is possible but isn’t a major driver of the style.
The fermentation character can be neutral to fruity. Some examples can have trace buttery diacetyl, which can be associated with dairy products, but this isn’t required. Hop flavor and aroma are optional, but are typically low if present and usually have a floral or earthy English character. The bitterness level is moderate at best, particularly when considering the balancing sweetness. The aftertaste is rich, full, and creamy with bittersweet roasted flavors.
The sweetness and roast levels are somewhat variable with a range of interpretations possible. In the best examples the sweetness and roast are in a pleasant combination. Remember, you have to perceive a lactose sweetness, but it shouldn’t be over the top like in a pastry stout. It shouldn’t seem sugary-sweet or rummy-sweet like in a tropical stout, and it shouldn’t have a super complex malt profile like that often found in an imperial stout.
Brewing Ingredients and Methods
The most important thing to remember about this style is that the residual sweetness in the beer is obtained from adding lactose. The sweetness must not only come from other types of sugar, crystal malts, or residual extract from fermentation, although those may be present. An early lawsuit testing the original patent failed in part because the imitator did not use an appreciable amount (that is, something perceivable by the drinker) of lactose. The original patent described 20% of the grist being lactose, but I find a target more in the neighborhood of 10% to be more common in modern versions.
The lactose can be added at various points in the brewing process. English brewers that parti-gyled their beers would add the lactose post-boil, so as to only include it in the milk stout variant. If you are making a single batch, you can of course add it during the boil. If you sterilize the lactose (boil it with water for at least 5 minutes), you can add it post-fermentation. This would allow you to increase the sweetness level to your personal taste, which is something I might do to test variations of a recipe even if I use the other methods. Since the lactose doesn’t ferment, you can really add it any time you like, just don’t infect the beer when you do it. When reviewing recipes, understand when the lactose is added since that affects the gravity parameters of the beer — I find it helpful to look at ABV first rather than OG (original gravity).
The base beer is a typical stout, using pale malt with malts (and other grains) to provide a dark color. Pale ale malt is common, particularly those that are somewhat dextrinous (like mild malt). It’s not necessary to use a highly flavorful pale malt like Maris Otter, since those flavors will be covered up by the sweetness and roast. Starchy adjuncts like flaked barley, oats, or corn can be used, as can fermentable sugars (refined or not). Traditional English recipes might use dark invert sugar syrups and caramel coloring, although these aren’t typical homebrew ingredients that might use a variety of crystal malts instead. Some English recipes might also use traditional porter and stout ingredients like brown malt.
The darker ingredients can include the usual suspects, like roasted barley, black malt, chocolate malt, and their debittered (huskless) brethren. Just remember that we are trying to avoid too much of a roasty or burnt flavor. Mash as you would any other stout; single infusion is traditional. This is an English-style ale after all. Mashing at higher temperatures can provide more body, but if you are adding other character-building adjuncts or sources of dextrins, this isn’t necessary.
English-type hops are common, but any relatively neutral bittering hop should work fine. Avoid hops that you would use in a modern IPA since you don’t want citrusy, piney, dank, tropical, or “New-World” flavors. Likewise, a neutral American or fruity English yeast is fine, just as you would use in other stouts. A warm-fermented lager yeast could also work but wouldn’t be as traditional. This is not a yeast-driven style, so a wide range of solutions is possible, but I think an English yeast is most traditional.
Homebrew Example
While I enjoy the stronger American craft versions, this example is more like the Mackeson’s I remember — closer to 5% than 6. I also keep the IBUs down, around 25, since I don’t want the bitterness to stand out against the sweetness.
For base malt, I use mild malt since I like the dextrinous character, but pale ale malt could also work. Flaked oats and barley are used to increase the mouthfeel and body. Lactose provides the sweetness, added late in the boil, along with crystal malt. With all the flaked grains, there is no need to mash this at higher temperatures. A single infusion mash is sufficient; and I’ll use 151 °F (66 °C) as a reasonable temperature to encourage fermentability.
The color and flavor come from a mix of dark grains including roasted barley, chocolate malt, Carafa® III malt, with just a touch of black patent malt. I have often made this recipe cold-steeping the dark malts and adding the strained liquid at the end of the boil, but this recipe uses them more traditionally.
If you want to explore the cold-steeping method, finely grind the dark grains separately and place them in a pot or large glass jar. Cover with at least a gallon (3.8 L) of cold RO (reverse osmosis) water, cover, and let stand at room temperature for at least 24 hours. Strain the grain, collecting at least a half-gallon (1.9-L) of liquid. Add this liquid in the last five to ten minutes of the boil. Do this process instead of adding the dark grains to the mash.
Staying with the English theme, I’ll use Golding as my bittering hop and Wyeast 1968, White Labs WLP002, or another “Fuller’s” strain as the yeast. The yeast will give a smooth palate with a gentle fruitiness that complements the darker malt flavors.
While this beer can be used as a base for experimentation, please try the standard beer first. Avoid the desire to turn this into a session pastry stout. The dark grains have a wonderful flavor on their own, and don’t need extra sweetness or spices to be delicious.
Sweet Stout by the Numbers
OG: 1.044–1.060
FG: 1.012–1.024
SRM: 30–40
IBU: 20–40
ABV: 4–6%
Sweet Stout
(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.054 FG = 1.017
IBU = 25 SRM = 36 ABV = 4.8%
Ingredients
7 lbs. (3.2 kg) mild malt
12 oz. (340 g) flaked oats
8 oz. (227 g) flaked barley
12 oz. (340 g) crystal malt (60 °L)
5 oz. (142 g) Carafa® Special III malt
5 oz. (142 g) chocolate malt
10 oz. (283 g) roasted barley
1.5 oz. (43 g) black patent malt
12 oz. (340 g) lactose sugar (15 min.)
7.5 AAU Golding hops (60 min.) (1.25 oz./35 g at 6% alpha acids)
Wyeast 1968 (London ESB), White Labs WLP002 (English Ale), or Mangrove Jack’s M15 (Empire Ale) yeast
3⁄4 cup corn sugar (if priming)
Step by Step
This recipe uses reverse osmosis (RO) water. Adjust all brewing water to a pH of 5.5 using phosphoric acid. Add 1 tsp. of calcium chloride to the mash.
Mash the mild malt and flaked oats and barley at 151 °F (66 °C) for 60 minutes. Add crystal and dark grains, increase mash temperature to 168 °F (76 °C) using direct heat or infusion, and recirculate for 15 minutes. Sparge with 170 °F (77 °C) water, collecting 6.5 gallons (25L) of wort.
Boil the wort for 75 minutes, adding hops at the time indicated in the recipe. Add the lactose with 15 minutes left in the boil.
Chill the wort to 68 °F (20 °C), pitch the yeast, and ferment until complete. Rack and package the beer, or rack and clarify the beer (if desired) with finings before packaging. Prime and bottle condition, or keg and force carbonate to 2.4 v/v.
Sweet Stout
(5 gallons/19 L,extract with grains)
OG = 1.054 FG = 1.017
IBU = 25 SRM = 36 ABV = 4.8%
Ingredients
5 lbs. (2.3 kg) Maris Otter liquid malt extract
8 oz. (227 g) Carapils® malt
12 oz. (340 g) crystal malt (60 °L)
5 oz. (142 g) Carafa® Special III malt
5 oz. (142 g) chocolate malt
10 oz. (283 g) roasted barley
1.5 oz. (43 g) black patent malt
12 oz. (340 g) lactose sugar (15 min.)
7.5 AAU Golding hops (60 min.) (1.25 oz./35 g at 6% alpha acids)
Wyeast 1968 (London ESB), White Labs WLP002 (English Ale), or Mangrove Jack’s M15 (Empire Ale) yeast
3⁄4 cup corn sugar (if priming)
Step by Step
Use 6 gallons (23 L) of RO (reverse osmosis) water in the brew kettle; heat to 158 °F (70 °C). Steep all the grains in a mesh bag for 30 minutes, then remove and sparge gently.
Turn off the heat. Add the malt extract and stir thoroughly to dissolve completely. You do not want to feel liquid extract at the bottom of the kettle when stirring with your spoon. Turn the heat back on and bring to a boil.
Boil the wort for 60 minutes, adding hops at the time indicated. Add the lactose with 15 minutes left in the boil.
Chill the wort to 68 °F (20 °C), pitch the yeast, and ferment until complete. Rack and package the beer, or rack and clarify the beer (if desired) with finings before packaging. Prime and bottle condition, or keg and force carbonate to 2.4 v/v.
