Greenbush Pain (Imperial Milk Stout)

Brewed by Greenbush Brewing Company
Style: Imperial Stout
Sawyer, Michigan USA

Serve in Snifter

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Draft on tap at Fountainhead (Chicago, IL). Excitement abound! Pours a rich blackish opaque pour, dark with a frothy light brown chocolate milk head, dies to thicker film and laces well overall, sticks around. Aromas are milk sugars and roasted malts clashing, maybe a touch of ash or smoke, some cocoa, sweetness, and toffee. Toast comes into play, biscuits and caramel, more roasted and earthy malts, but they fall behind that heft of sweet milk sugar, lactose and cocoa linger up front. Hefty and aromatic. Initial is fuller bodied, offering a creamy and enticing flavor, milk sugar and toffee mix with a good dose of cocoa and chocolate, touches of caramel, vanilla, and creaminess. Roast and toast come into the fold, offering sweet coffee as it’s overall feel. Still earthy and roasty, but falling in line with the sweeter flavors. A nice clash of sweet and roast, coffee and cocoa, however the roast does do work, not succumbing to more powerful sweet sugars. Touches of dark fruit and bitter hops hit on the finish, mixing with the already rich roast and mellow touches of sweetness that fell off into the finish. I rather enjoyed this, big and burly with touches of ABV heat, but still quite inviting, flavorful, and just works for me.

tap at hopcat. black with minimal head. aroma of bitter cocoa and some big roastiness. flavor of huge lactose, chocolate, raisin, and caramel. big coffee finish. great stuff

Draft at Fountainhead. Pours a big and deep brooding black with a tan head. Nose is hoppier than expected. Distinct piney hops and a strong component of alcohol. The roast is a bit restrained in the nose, though a cocoa quality definitely comes across. On tasting, cocoa and big roast. Strongly boozy as well, warming with a burn. The alcohol seems to thin out the body. Sweetness from the lactose is also very apparent, lending a profile of hershey’s syrup to the beer. Balanced bitterness and definitely not cloying. Surprised that this was as solid as it is.

Draft at Crunchy’s, East Lansing. Opaque deep brown-black body, thin clumping tan head. Leathery nose with burnt sugars, coffee, and smoke. Chewy body with burnt sugars, smoke, roasted malts, coffee, and grapeskin. Bitter prickly finish. Potent but not syrupy or heavy. Very nice.

This is a deceptive beer. Very sweet, as you’d expect, but not as smooth as a lot of milk stouts I’ve had. I think that’s because of the ridiculous ABV. Too fruity upfront (I’m sensing a common house yeast/flavor), and the sweetness lingers longer than I’d like, but as a result, the alcohol is hard to detect. Which means that this beer could mess a person up without him even knowing. I could enjoy sipping this while watching a movie.

On tap at the brewpub. We just hit the right afternoon that they were introducing it. Pours charcoal black with an off-brown head. Nice lacing. Aroma has a thick chocolate to it, more of a baker chocolate than milky. Some sweet fruit and vanilla in the background. Taste has chocolate and caramel and alcohol. And alcohol. This one is a sipper. Finishes with some length and some malty-fruitiness. Cool to have them tapping it as we were there, and to discuss the version in the barrels to the side as we were sipping!

Limited tap at Brewery: Nearly opaque with coppery highlights around the edges, creamy tan head and nice lace. The aroma has notes of roast, char, biscuit, tobacco, leather, lactic acid, coffee, chocolate, grapefruit, resin, leafy and grassy hops with a hint of plum esters too. The taste starts with nice tones of dark and citric fruit balanced by caramel and black malts, slight hop spice and coffee notes over a layer of milk chocolate and roasted grains. Twangy throughout with an light lingering sweetness. The mouth feel is oily and slick with an ashy finish, medium carbonation. This is a solid brew and can not wait to see what is is like on Rye Whiskey Barrel treatment.