*Presenting: Chocolate Milk*

Chocolate Milk by Tustin Brewing Company

What’s sweeter than a box of chocolates on Valentine's Day? A Sweet Stout made with real chocolate, of course! Our local Orange County Brew-Pub, Tustin Brewing Company has made something special for us. Behold this glass of creamy, chocolaty goodness (pictured above). You can almost hear her asking, “Will you be my Valentine?”

Chocolate Milk is Milk/Sweet Stout brewed with lactose sugar, cocoa nibs and vanilla beans. Milk/Sweet Stouts differ from Dry Stouts with their addition of lactose (milk) sugar. Lactose is disaccharide (a two-sugar-molecule carbohydrate) composed of a galactose sugar and a glucose sugar. The bond holding those two sugars together cannot be broken by typical beer yeast (unless additional external enzymes are added) and therefore is not fermented. In other words, the lactose sugar ends up in the finished beer contributing texture and sweetness.

Pours black in color with a rich, thick off-white head. Aromas of milk chocolate, whipped cream, vanilla and roasted cereal grains. The chocolate flavors from the cocoa nibs playfully dances with the milk sugar. Vanilla beans add an extra layer of lavishness to an already lush character, holding hands with the light roasted coffee notes. Fluffy texture with a silky mouthfeel. The finish is long and sweet, just as a kiss from your beloved should be. 

So, will you be her Valentine?

xoxo,

-Gilbert "Charlie" Perez, Certified Cicerone®