Home / Guides / Sweet (Milk) Stout
Sweet (Milk) Stout
A fuller, sweeter, rounder stout brewed with lactose for body and a milk-chocolate softness.
About the Sweet (Milk) Stout style
The sweet or milk stout was marketed in early 20th-century England as a nourishing, restorative drink, once even advertised to nursing mothers. The name comes from the lactose, or milk sugar, added to the brew.
Because brewing yeast cannot ferment lactose, it remains in the finished beer as residual sweetness and body, giving a soft, milk-chocolate character that balances the roasted malt. Mackeson is the classic surviving example.
Grain, hops and yeast
Malt and grain: Pale, chocolate and roasted malts with lactose (milk sugar), which the yeast cannot ferment, so it stays as sweetness and body.
Hop character: Low, just enough to balance, letting the sweetness and roast lead.
Yeast and fermentation: A clean ale yeast; the sweetness comes from unfermentable lactose rather than the yeast leaving sugar behind.
A typical Sweet (Milk) Stout runs 4 to 6% alcohol by volume, with a bitterness of about 20 to 40 IBU and a colour of 30 to 40 SRM. It is traditionally served in a nonic pint. These figures describe the usual range for the style; a given example may sit a little outside them.
Serving and carbonation
Serve a sweet stout cool, around 9 to 12 degrees Celsius, with a moderate carbonation or a nitrogen pour to underline its soft, creamy body. It is a rich, low-bitterness beer that suits slow drinking.
Fermentation in brief
A clean ale yeast fermented in the high teens Celsius does the work; the sweetness comes from lactose you add, not from underattenuation. Let the yeast finish out the fermentable sugars normally, and the unfermentable lactose stays behind as body and sweetness.
Classic examples
Well-known commercial examples of the style include Mackeson Stout, Left Hand Milk Stout and Samuel Adams Cream Stout. Tasting a benchmark example is the best way to understand what a style should be before brewing your own.
| Vital statistic | Typical range |
|---|---|
| Origin | England |
| Strength (ABV) | 4 to 6% |
| Bitterness (IBU) | 20 to 40 |
| Colour (SRM) | 30 to 40 |
| Traditional glass | Nonic pint |
Typical published ranges. Individual examples vary.
Set up your Sweet (Milk) Stout on tap
Open the KegFitFinder fitting toolMatch your keg coupler, gas and draft-line fittings so it pours right.Find keg coupler on eBayaffiliateRelated
Sources: BJCP Beer Style Guidelines