Milk Stout (also known as “cream stout” or “sweet stout”) is a particular type of dark ale (stout) brewed with an addition of lactose, or milk sugar. The milk sugar is unfermentable by brewing yeasts and therefore contributes body and a mild sweetness to the finished beer. The milk sugar also contributes to the mouthfeel of the beer, which is often described as “creamy.” Roasted malts contribute chocolate and coffee flavors, and most examples are moderately hopped.

The broad stylistic family of dark ales collectively known as “stout” evolved from the porter style that was popular in the UK in the 18th and 19th centuries. The sweeter milk stouts appeared late in the 19th century. In 1907, the Mackeson Brewery in England, owned by Whitbread (now part of the Anheuser-Busch InBev family of brands), introduced a milk stout that showed a milk churn on the label. See mackeson. Mackeson’s version, which is still brewed, is a low-alcohol beer (3% alcohol by volume [ABV]) with lactose added in powder form to the kettle, next the hops, during the wort boil. Like Mackeson, most milk stouts were relatively low-gravity beers, with most having original gravities around 10°P. After the successful introduction of Mackeson milk stout, other breweries tried their hands at milk stout, but never became major players in that specialty market.

Although it is originally a 19th-century beer style, milk stout did not gain peak popularity until after World War II. Cream stout was once touted as a healthy drink and for a time was used by both lactating mothers and athletes in training. During a period of food rationing following World War II, the British government ordered its brewers to delete the word “milk” from their labels and advertisements and refrain from using any reference to milk in their imagery because the beer did not contain actual milk.

Popularity of the style waned in the UK late in the 20th century, but outside the UK, notably in South Africa, milk stout found aficionados. The South African Breweries, for instance, introduced a 6% ABV Castle milk stout in 2003 and continues to brew it in nine African countries. American craft brewers have also revived the style in recent years, sometimes adopting the “Guinness-style” draught pour (blended nitrogen and carbon dioxide gas) to highlight the sweetness and creamy texture of the beer. Some modern brewers add the milk sugar postfermentation, sweetening the beer before packaging.

See also nitrogenated dispense.