Milk & Cookies? What’s better than that? I know! Milk & Cookies & Beer! Yes indeed friends, you can have all those things in every delicious bottle of Wicked Weed Milk & Cookies Imperial Milk Stout with Golden Raisins, Cinnamon, and Vanilla. I spied this beer for the first time on Black Friday of 2017 at Total Wine, and scooped one up post haste. As tends to happen with me, I kept it around for a time and eventually drank it on May 28th of 2018.
My good buddy Tom the Beer Whisperer Mulvihill likes to call beers of this nature “gimmick beers”, although I prefer the name theme beers. We both agree they are adjunct-laden, which to me is only a negative if the adjunct is intended to lighten flavor. Here, the aim is quite the opposite. Ultimately, such beers can be hard to peg stylistically, and my ratings of them are based on hedonism (did I enjoy the beer?) and how well they deliver the promised theme. Which would be, in this case, milk & cookies!
Wicked Weed says on the label:
Milk & Cookies Stout transports us to our childhood kitchens, where freshly baked cinnamon-raisin cookies warmed us against winter winds, and familiar grandparent voices permeated the sounds of the night. Hints of cold milk, sweet vanilla, and hearty oatmeal remind us that our memories are forever led by our senses. In this case, we are led home.
Hints of cold milk? I think that one is pushing it, folks, but I did enjoy this beer immensely. Wicked Weed Milk & Cookies has an alcohol content of 8.5% by volume and mine was packaged on 11/07/17. Availability is listed as “Specialty”. I paid $7.99 for a half liter bottle, which is high.
Ingredients from the website:
Hops: Warrior, Willamette
Yeasts: California Ale Yeast
Other: Cinnamon, Golden Raisins, Vanilla
Hey! What about the malts?
Wicked Weed Milk & Cookies Imperial Milk Stout with Golden Raisins, Cinnamon, and Vanilla pours to a jet-black color with a thick creamy tan head and a nigh irresistible cinnamon and chocolate nose. Taking a sip, the beer is smooth and full bodied with milk chocolate and cookie malt notes like a chocolate chip cookie. You get the smooth grainy oats next with hints of dark fruity raisin and vibrant cinnamon just like an oatmeal cookie, and a hint of creamy vanilla to suggest the milk. Though a suggestion is different than a hint. So there.
This is delightful, just like an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie with raisins and, if you think of the vanilla as such, a glass of milk. The raisins and cinnamon really come through here.
For what they tried to do, 5 stars. The price brings the experience down a tad for me, though. Make it as bomber and I’d be happier at $8, or $5 for the half liter. A star off for that, but that would certainly not stop me from buying this delightful beer again.
And remember, try a new beer today, and drink outside the box.
*Pricing data accurate at time of review or latest update. For reference only, based on actual price paid by reviewer.
(B)=Bottled
(D)=Draft
(G)=Growler