Southern Tier Crème Brûleé Imperial Milk Stout Imperial Milk Stout

While visiting Mom I also visited Port Jefferson Spirits and had a lively conversation with the owner while searching for a beer that I had heretofore not sampled. Since it was a breezy, cool day, I eschewed the summer ales and IPA's a zeroed in on the stouts and porters. Southern Tier, a New York brewery that I discovered while in Kansas City a few years ago, offered a Crème Brûleé Imperial Milk Stout, part of their Blackwater Series. As I'm very partial to milk stouts. Milk stouts, also known as sweet stouts, retain some sweetness after fermentation due to the addition of lactose, a sugar that does not convert to alcohol during fermentation. I find that this really takes the edge off a typical stout, giving it a dessert-y character. "Imperial" of course generally indicates a higher alcohol content, deriving from the traditional style Imperial Russian Stout. Southern Tiers website doesn't specify what they add to give it the rich flavor of Crème Brûleé, but the main flavor/aroma that I detect is vanilla. I sampled this in a brandy snifter (which I recommend) - as it warmed up other flavors came out of hiding: chocolate, coffee, and the advertised custard notes. The high ABV (10%) requires sipping, not quaffing, the better to savor the flavors. Definitely not an everyday beer, but one for a special occasion.