In South Africa, you had the beer giant SAB Miller, which recently turned into the really unappealing sounding name Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV (AB InBev). For all of its bad, and for all of its comercial nonsense, some of the original SAB Miller beers, like Castle, Castle milk stout, Black Label, and Lion, are tied to so many memories for so many South Africans. Drinking your first Castle with your grandfather on a Saturday afternoon while watching test cricket, cracking open a Black Label (or zamalek) watching varsity rugby, and enjoying a Castle milk stout while the fires are burning talking absolute nonsense with my father. Again, for all of the bad that they stand, these commercial products have become household names, tied to memories, and almost becoming "verbs" and not nouns.
So, after seeing a couple of other smaller breweries, even some craft breweries, trying their hands at the might "Milk Stout", I was interested. You cannot compete with the largest brewery in the world. You cannot. But there are two others who have recently tried their hands at the milk stout, and I had to say, the battle was clearly lost even before we started...
I hate to side with big conglomerates, and I hate to admit that my emotions and memories influence my decision making this much - but the commercial Castle Milk Stout is just better on all fronts. I know abroad (US, UK, Europe, and so on) people really do not like milk stout beer. But I have not yet understood this hate that much. Comparing some of the craft stouts I have had overseas, and ones from local soils, I have come to appreciate the Castle milk stout even more - and this really hurts me to say this. But this is possibly the biggest bias of all my beer drinking adventures. A Castle milk stout is just a thing me and my dad share, and this possibly clouds my vision too much.
Either way, there is a small tasting review I did of the three major and only three milk stout beers we have in South Africa, Castle milk stout, Striped Horse milk stout, and the new kid on the block, CBC milk stout.
Castle milk stout
As I noted above, there is something nostalgic about this beer for me. It is me and my fathers first real shared beer around braai or fire (along with black label). Still today, this is our go to beer.
The first smell is roasted toasted malt chocolate coffee with only a slight hint of sweetness. What is good about this beer for me is the incredible balance of every aspect.
The first taste was full bodied complex chocolate coffee maltiness, with delicate bitterness and some alcoholic notes.
The aftertaste was bitter and dark chocolate; even though it is commercial beer, it remains one of the best stouts in South Africa, but as I noted this is purely a biased opinion, one marred by nostalgia and memories.
Striped Horse milk stout
This is the second time doing a review of this beer. (See the first one here.) It is always good to return to a good beer. But I have to admit, I only bought this beer for this review, and because the shop did not have bigger bottles of other beers I wanted.
This is by alls means not a beer I would really by myself. It sits between a craft stout and a commercial one. Not the best space to be in. I would either buy the commercial milk stout or more expensive and heavier craft stouts.
Either way, it had nice chocolate notes on the nose, and even though I am a bit critical of this beer, it had a beautiful smell to it.
Slightly bitter first taste. Unfortunately, the beer was a bit watery, but there was some nice hoppy and bitter notes when I took the first sip.
There was a good balance between the very subtle sweetness and the bitter roasted notes. This definitely comes from the chocolate roasted and toasted malts.
With all said, it is still a lovely deep dark beer which I really enjoyed, but it was not as good as Castle milk stout.
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CBC milk stout
This is the new kid on the block, and brewed by a big and fancy "craft" brewery. I place craft in quotes because this place feels like it has infinate cash flow, and a brewery that almost tries to challenge the big players in this game. If you have been to the CBC brewery, you know.
As I cracked open this beer, it had that classic milk stout smell to it; it really smells like commercial Castle milk stout and like the striped horse one.
But not as intense as either one. There was some nice roasted notes but not too much, some coffee but again not that much.
The first taste was chocolate and coffee; roasted malts coming through strong; and it was very smooth and not too bitter. There was no real sweet taste at all; but not heavy either. It was a mild and good balanced beer.
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Postscriptum, or the Ugly Truth
We are emotional and memory-bound creatures. We live by habit and so we die by its will as well. Or something along those lines. My memories of the Castle milk stout overpowers all of my rational judgement, but if something is enjoyable it merely is enjoyable. (But one can make the claim and argument that buying something actually endorses it and all of its practices. But politics aside... if that is possible...)
I hope that you have fond memories of a beer which you drink with a loved one. These are special memories that we need to hold onto. For that is all we have in the end. We can have photographs and memorabilia, but these things need to be tied to memories with loved ones.
So, enjoy a beer with a loved one!
All of the musings and writings are my own, albeit inspired by my nostalgia. The photographs are also my own, taken with my Nikon D300.
