More Millstream Love

One of the breweries I continue to rave about on this blog is Millstream Brewing Company from Amana, Iowa. As a native Iowan, especially in the land of Minnesota, I'm always quick to brag up the Hawks and all good things Iowan. Add Millstream to the list. Everytime El Jefe goes back home, he always brings me back some Millstream. This year for my birthday he brought up six packs of two I'd never had; their Oatmeal Stout and seasonal Shockolade Bock. In a lot of ways Millstream reminds me of Summit. Their beers aren't experimental, insanely hopped, or high in abv (which I learned is due to some stupid Iowa beer laws). What they do instead are make excellent, well crafted ales that are solid for their style. I will maintain that their John's Generations White Ale is the one of the three best American brewed Belgian Wits I've had.
For more of my previous lovefests of Millstream, check out my prior reviews here.
Onto the two most recent:
Colony Oatmeal Stout: This stout pours jet black with a thick, two finger tan head. Nice chocolate, coffee, tofffee and roasted barley aromas. There's a great roasty flavor with a bit of a bitter finish. There are some nice chocolate and caramel flavors in there as well. Great mouthfeel with the slickness you'd expect from an oatmeal stout, along with some creaminess. Overall, another solid Millstream outing. Nothing out of the ordinary, but at the same time, exactly what you'd expect from an oatmeal stout.


Shockolade Bock: El Jefe waited to try this one with me and we were impressed. A very interesting beer and something I'd never heard of before, a chocolate bock. It pours brown with some reddish/copper hues and a 1/2 finger of off white head. Nice malty aroma with some chocolate notes and a hint of roastiness. This has some great malty character, with a smooth bock finish and sweetness. Perfectly balanced, it's malty and sweet, but has enough chocolate present to make it a bit darker feeling than you'd expect and also a very smooth finish as you'd assume with a bock. It finishes clean with some lingering sweetness. This beer is one of the best I've had from Millstream and I'm sad that I am out. This is the perfect winter beer if you aren't looking for something heavy, but want something complex but smooth.

I'm almost at the point of starting a movement to get Millstream into Minnesota. I learned from their website they do distribute to Illinois and southern Wisconsin. El Jefe and I might need to start bugging our Twin Cities liquor stores to start carrying this excellent brewery.

I will be posting my Winter Ales part two review this week (gotta love make your own six packs during the seasonal releases!)
Happy Holidays.
Salud!
Bearded Brewer