Left Hand Milk Stout is the brewery's flagship, a 6% ABV Milk/Sweet Stout. The appearance is a dark black color as the aroma offers milk chocolate and roasted malts. The flavor follows with a slight roasted bitterness at first as the beer expands to coffee, slightly sweet milk chocolate, as well as nutty and roasted malts.
In 1990, founder of Left Hand, Dick Doore, start homebrewing after receiving a homebrewing kit from his brother. As with many homebrewers, he quickly became obsessed and decided with Eric Wallace to open a brewery. Founded in 1993, Left Hand Brewing is named after Chief Niwot (meaning Left Handed in the Arapahoe language), who wintered his tribe in the Boulder area of Colorado. In those 23 years since opening, Left Hand Brewing has become one of the top 50 largest craft breweries in the US. They have become highly lauded for their innovative Milk Stout Nitro; along with their other beers, which have gathered over 28 Great American Beer Festival medals, 11 World Beer Cup awards, and 9 European Beer Star awards.
Left Hand Milk Stout may not have actual “milk" in it, but it is does contain lactose sugar. The same sugar that is found in the carton of milk, lactose is a sugar that is not fermentable by brewer's yeast. This leaves residual sugars in the beer that is not consumed by yeast, as well as a lighter dosing of hops than other traditional stouts.. The result is rounder mouthfeel as the sugars lay on the palate.
As for food pairing, Left Hand recommends accentuating the sweetness of foods like, short ribs, cupcakes, and chocolate cake.
