Udderly Toasted, a s’mores-inspired dessert stout from Grist House Craft Brewery and Turner Dairy Farm, will be released at noon this Saturday. The brew is modeled after Turner’s latest specialty milk, chocolate marshmallow.
Similar to dark brews labeled “pastry” or “sweet,” a "dessert stout" implies the addition of lactose. Adding lactose to a beer, according to Grist House marketing manager Bailey Allegretti, allows it to stay sweet through the brewing process. In the fermenting process, yeast consumes the sugar from grain and converts it into alcohol; lactose is unfermentable and keeps sugar in the brew. It’s a similar process used to make milkshake IPAs.
Udderly Toasted is made with the same combination used in Turner’s milk: a powdered mix, similar to pre-packaged hot chocolate. Allegretti says the beer isn’t cloying (Grist House made sure to stay away from a brew so sweet it could make teeth hurt), but the s’more flavor comes through clearly. The taste is described as dark chocolate with a bit of marshmallow, “like the little marshmallows in hot chocolate mix,” that finishes with the subtle flavor of a graham cracker.
Allegretti says that working with the dairy farm has been a great experience, and they are optimistic for more Turner beers in the future.
But until the next brew is released, make sure to snag Udderly Toasted before it’s gone. The stout, which comes in at 10 percent (“we wanted to make a splash,” laughs Allegretti), will be available in cans and on draft at Grist House starting at 12 on Saturday. With every purchase of a four pack comes a bottle of Turner’s chocolate marshmallow milk, as long as supplies last.
