Quick Sips: Keegan Ales Mother's Milk Stout

I love milk stouts, so when I ran across this at the Asbury Park Beerfest, I was ready to give it a whirl. Both my wife and I liked it a lot, and liked it even more when the rep (whose name I do not recall) was super nice. So naturally, I looked for bottles when they became available in our area.

The brewery is based in New York, but from what I was told the founders are originally from central NJ and are trying to get their beer into their old stomping ground. That IS my stomping ground! So I bought.

The head pours frothy and brown, dissipating in a few minutes but not before a mildly milky (and slightly tame) aroma of cocoa and mlky coffee floats up. The beer itself is black with tight carbonation bubbles lacing the inside of the glass.

As you'd expect with a milk stout, Mother's Milk is creamy and smooth. There are subtle hints of subdued chocolate that reveal themselves as the beer warms, but it's not in your face. No real roasty flavor or coffee from it. Just smooth, milky dark malts. A lot of stouts these days try to be many things at once -- witness Founder's (excellent) Breakfast Stout, which they dub a double chocolate coffee oatmeal stout -- but Mother's Milk aspired to be one thing only: A good milk stout.

One important thing to note: Let this beer warm above fridge temperature before you drink it. When cold it's smooth but lacks taste. As it gets warmer, it reveals hints of cocoa and other flavors.

This is a very nice milk stout that compares favorably to crowd favorite Left Hand Milk Stout.