Iron Monk is one of the newer breweries here in Oklahoma and they are hitting the ground running with the stuff they are putting out.  They released their first beer, Iron Monk Milk Stout, in kegs in February as the Stillwater Brewing Company LLC, but seemed to be going by Iron Monk Brewing Company these days (Iron Monk is way cooler anyways).  I’ve had a few of their releases on tap, including a nitro version of this Milk Stout and their Payne County IPA and they have all been solid.  This release just hit the shelves in bottles, let’s see how it is.

Company: Iron Monk Brewing Company

Location: Stillwater, OK

ABV: 6%

Style/Description: Milk Stout

Price: $10 (4-pack)

Appearance: Pours an opaque dark brown, not a single drop of sunshine getting through this guy. The tan head is short with a medium dissipation. Solid lacing throughout.

Nose: The nose is subtle, much like sniffing one of those chocolate bars with the crazy high percentages of cacao. Bitter chocolate and malt is the only thing apparent.

Taste: Oh man, the mouthfeel on this beer. Rich, creamy, just excellent. It’s hard to explain, but the flavor that punches you in the mouth on this beer is the bitter chocolate, but the beer itself isn’t bitter at all. It’s smooth and sweet, but that bitter chocolate is all over the place along with dark coffee and toasty malt flavors, like a concentrated, amped up version of other milk stouts.

Finish: If you find a way to stop drinking this beer for one second (good luck, I destroyed mine), the finish leaves you feeling like you just drank some super dark hot chocolate…and not that you stirred in to hot water…no, no…that shit was up in some milk, the real way. Again, the prevalent note for me is the bitter chocolate, but in the sweetest way possible. Impressive.

Overall: This stuff is serious. The texture and the pure drinkability of this beer rival anything in the state. It’s about time something halfway decent came out of Stillwater (no way I was going to make it through this without at least one Stillwater joke). Iron Monk, keep doing what your doing and I’ll keep drinking it.

Rating: 4/5