Sunday late afternoon breakfast. DIRTY Imperial Milk Stout!

Yesterday I went to Pazardzhik city, where I was invited by the Rhombus Craft Brewery to join their “Golden Rhombus” international beer contest as a beer judge. This year I didn’t prepare any beer for the contest, so there was not a problem at all to judge the other beers!

The atmosphere behind the brewery’s bar.

There were 16 beer samples from all over the country, but they were not of a very qood quality. Actually only 4 of them were pretty good and deserved to win a medal. There were actually very interesting beer samples, just like a beer, brewed with nettle, or some mint and berry ones. The interesting part was, that the beers were named by the authors and we all knew actually the brewers of the beers in advance. We all join a Facebook group of homebrewers in Bulgaria, and of course most of the people, who are brewing post their best beers! LOL!

I must say, that despite knowing more of the samples’ authors, our choice was very fair and we didn’t know two of the finalist beers. So 2 known and 2 unknown authors in the finals. Well... the winner was a nice Berliner Weisse with blackberries and we were sappy with the choice. The winner in this contest wins a collaboration brew with the Rhombus brewery using his recipe. 350 liters of beer in the brew, of which the winner gets 150 liters in beer kegs. The other part of the batch is sold by the brewery in order to cover their expenses.

Well let’s continue with the beer. Of course, before I left the brewery got the chance to buy some beers. I ended with a plastic bag, containing 2 liters of IPA, 1 liter of Pale Ale, 1 liter of Weizen and two bottles of 330 ml - an oatmeal stout and an imperial milk stout, which is a collaboration beer between Rhombus craft brewery and a Slovakian one - Wardrobe Beer Manufactory.

Now it is a time to drink this beauty. Supposingly it is a very thick beer it should be perfect for afternoon breakfast.

“This is a collaboration brew between Rhombus Craft Brewery and Wardrobe Beer Manufactory.

The style is Imperial Milk Stout and immediately after opening the bottle you can smell the dark roasted malts, chocolate notes and the hints of licorice. When poured in a glass, the dark brown beer forms a sticky lasting head. The lactose which we added during the boiling process complements the aroma and enhances the mouthful to silky smooth and creamy. The flavor is roasted but balanced with the sweetness forming a cappuccino like impression. The use of noble hops from Britain and Germany just enhance the flavor and bitterness, rather than steal it away from the grains. The alcohol is warming and lasting in a harmony with the sweetness from the unfermentable sugars.

A dark sweet stout, which is best consumed warm and with red meats, cheese and light deserts.”

Well, the last statement is absolutely true, because when it’s it cold, you cannot really note all these tastes, which were described. As I left it in the glas for a while, the beer totally showed its full potential.

The body is really very expressed and the sweetness is awesome. I’m not a lot into these sweet beers, but the Milk Stout combines all this roastiness with the sweetness of the lactose and it’s like some sort of a very delicious chocolate dessert, or a cup of cappuccino, as it was stated on the beer’s label.

The head of this one was not lasting. I washed the glas carefully, but the beer looked as if there was some sort of oil there. We all know, that even a drop of some sort of oil in the beer causes the head to disappear. Anyway, this was the only flaw, which I experienced with this bottle. The beer literally stick on your lips and the aftertaste stays a lot!

I had tried the beer only draft in the brewery, when the guy from the Slovakian brewery carried only one keg of his beer as a pre-premiere! So it was just about time to buy a bottle of it, before the quantities just disappear without leaving any trace! Hehe.

Have a nice afternoon. And see ya again!
Cheers!

What do I need? A beer, a glass and a bottle opener! Improvised bottle opener...

Well, the bottle opener actually works.

OK, then! Cheers!