The Bruery - 8 Maids-A-Milking 2015

For the first beer in this Special Offer we’re pleased to feature 8 Maids-A-Milking 2015: a Belgian-style imperial milk stout. The addition of lactose to a stout-y framework is actually quite traditional, while the “Belgian-style” and “imperial” additions take this into a whole different territory. This one’s massive, generous and nails the feel of the Twelve Days of Christmas series overall.

8 Maids-A-Milking pours deep chocolate-brown, topped by a rather impressive light-brown, creamy head that initially seems like it might stick around longer than it does. The aromas coming out of this beer are far broader than the “imperial milk stout” title may suggest, and we were actually quite surprised by how well this stuck, as mentioned, with the overall theme. There’s just tons of dried dark fruits here—raisins, dates. Plus: brown sugar.

There’s a smooth ribbon of milk chocolate that runs through every part of this beer, certainly solidifying the milk stout aspirations. The Belgian yeast character in the aroma offers up a bunch of cloves and banana-like notes, almost giving the impression of a dunkelweizen. And that red fruitiness, almost like candied cherries, goes seamlessly amidst the other components.

That dunkelweizen suggestion fully plays out here and one can find additional nuance in a lot of directions: pursuing some dark chocolate notes, underlying toffee and bubble gum, plus those endless charms of dried fruits. This is generous, massively appointed (on a number of unexpected fronts) and just delicious.

The Bruery 8 Maids-A-Milking 2015 has aged beautifully and is very enjoyable now. We also anticipate it will continue to do so for many years to come. For pairing options, the Bruery suggests fare such as baked brie, coffee cake, a plateful of cookies, and/or chestnuts roasting on an open fire.