Brews and Reviews: Dangerous Man Brewing Company's Chocolate Milk Stout

Trying to figure out my first post for Beelploma.com came with a little bit of anxiety and help from an expert source.  A good friend and former colleague of mine and I had got to talking about this endeavor and based on where I live and what I usually dig. He suggested I tackle Dangerous Man Brewing Co. and their flagship brew; the Chocolate Milk Stout.

Photo courtesy of Dangerous Man Brewing Company

I grabbed a pint of the infamous beer of 13th and 2nd in NE Minneapolis, right there at the taproom (one of the only two ways you can grab their beers. The other being via growler) with my wife and her aunt and uncle who were up from Kansas City. Everyone but my wife, who doesn't drink much anyway, ended up ordering a pint to accompany some much needed catching up and good conversation.

This beer looks intimidating and intense, as some craft stouts tend to do, just based on its extremely dark tone and deep copper hues on the head.  Often times, these stouts' tough appearance is matched with a heavy taste, overwhelming mouth feel and strong overall taste. However, the Chocolate Milk Stout from Dangerous Man suffers from none of those. One's senses are greeted with a very smooth beer that is tickled with a great classic stout taste accompanied with hints of chocolate and coffee.  The brewer perfectly balances the aroma and flavors of the product, while creating a beverage that isn't too over-the-top, but isn't whimpering as it enters your mouth. Even on a warm Minnesota afternoon, this beer was refreshing and delicious.

The Chocolate Milk Stout is also, surprisingly, a great beer for any occasion. This variation on the classic high gravity beer is like that of John Bender; tough looking exterior, but once you get to the core of it, a really sweet and enticing product that everyone either wants or wants to be.

Saint Paul Summer Beer Fest - A Whole Lotta Beer!

The Saint Paul Summer Beer Fest was a great event. There were tons of brews, actually over 100 breweries and over 400 beers! Out of all of them, the best one as voted for by fans was Dangerous Man Brewing Company out of Nordeast Mpls. Good job Dangerous Man! They seem to be winning a lot of awards lately, and having had a lot of their beers it makes total sense. Unfortunately, as often happens at this large of an event, I never got to their booth. But, I did have a lot of other great beers. So, let’s get to it!

(Crowd Around Dangerous Man)

Let’s start with one of my favorite breweries, Bent Brewstillery. Last year at this event was where Bent made its debut and gave Dark Fatha to the world. This year Bent brought Dark Fatha that had been aged in rye whiskey barrels. WOW! This beer was awesome! Dark Fatha is a very smooth approachable beer. Barrel aging this beer added depth to it while maintaining the smoothness. There was no boozy bite like lots of barrel aged imperial stouts. But, if you want a bit of a bite they had ghost peppers that you could toss into your glass to spice things up. Bent Brewstillery is doing awesome things. It has been fun to watch them grow and to have seen how their beer has evolved from the beginning till now. Expect more greatness to come from these guys!



(Bent Brewstillery Pourin' The Good Stuff!)

Next up we have one of the newest breweries on the block, Tin Whiskers BrewingCompany. This brewery just recently opened in St. Paul, so I wanted to see what they are doing. I tried the Wheatstone Bridge. This beer is an American style wheat beer made with chamomile and honey. It has an almost chai tea flavor to it. It has ginger and floral notes along with a nice sweetness. It is a refreshing beer with an awesome original flavor. Although I am not sure I could sit down and drink a whole 6 pack of it, it shows how creative brewers can be with beer and makes me think we are going to see some awesome creations from Tin Whiskers going forward.

(Third Street Out Back)

ThirdStreet Brewhouse never fails to bring something tasty to these parties and they didn’t let us down at this fest with Hunny Do. This beer is a wheat beer with honey dew melon. The smell of this beer had a nice melony scent along with a hint of a cinnamon toast crunch, although only the melon flavor stuck around when the beer hits your tongue. It’s crisp, refreshing, and fruity. Thanks for never letting us down, Third Street!

Now let’s hit a couple “unbeers”. First up is Angry Orchard. They brought a hard cider with elderflower. We tried this purely because earlier we were talking with our Norwegian friend about elderflower. And then, BAM, an elderflower cider.... It was meant to be! This cider was sweet, slightly floral, fruity, and light. It was a good drinkable cider and was a great departure from a typical “just apple” hard cider. I know this is a beer blog, but Angry Orchard deserved a little cred for this one for sure!

(Great Music At The Beer Fest)

Our last beer of the day is a shout out to Vicky who writes our blog series Confessions of a Sober Cab; Lift Bridge Brewing Company’s Root Beer. Vicky said it was sweet but not overly sweet nor bitey and was a good mellow root beer. Thanks for bringing something hand crafted for our sober cab, Lift Bridge!  

(Three Marks Means Trouble!)

All in all I had a great time at the Saint Paul Summer Beer Fest. There was more beer than I could ever imagine, the rain stopped right before pulling into the parking lot, and the crowd was fun and festive. Chop Liver knows how to throw a great beer party!

(My Crew And I Havin' Fun!)