Sunday Night Suds - Samuel Adams Cream Stout

The last Sunday Night Suds before Pesach (and the last Kosher Beers post until April 20, 2009) looks at the Samuel Adams Cream Stout.

As explained by the experts at Beer Advocate, a cream stout is somewhat like a traditional stout, however,

Milk / Sweet Stouts are basically stouts that have a larger amount of residual dextrins and unfermented sugars that give the brew more body and a sweetness that counters the roasted character. Milk Stouts are very similar to Sweet Stouts, but brewers add unfermentable sugars, usually lactose, to the brew kettle to add body and some sweetness.

Some milk/cream stouts actually do contain lactose or milk byproducts. The CRC notes on its kosher liquor list (http://www.crcweb.org/kosher/consumer/liquorList.html ) that Mackeson's Triple Stout contains dairy ingredients (and is otherwise not recommended, although the reasons are not specified). The Kosher authorities in New Zealand (http://www.kosherkiwidirectory.co.nz/ ) indicate that all New Zealand beers other than the ones specified on their website should be assumed to be kosher dairy). I am unsure why the chazakah there is that beers are brewed dairy, but perhaps one day I will find out.

Not all milk/cream stouts are dairy. The Samuel Adams Cream Stout bears a star-k without any form of dairy disclaimer. Additionally, the LOC (http://www.star-k.org/loc/kosher_letter_6635_bostonbeercompany.pdf ) on the Star-K website indicates that all beers produced by Samuel Adams which are under hashgacha are pareve. Having said that, before the first time that I had the SA Cream Stout, I called the company's quality assurance line just to confirm that there was no dairy involved in the brew.

The Samuel Adams Cream Stout certainly qualifies as one of the lighter stouts. Unlike regular stouts and the "harder" stouts such as dark chocolates or imperials, the Samuel Adams cream stout does not require sipping and is quite drinkable either on its own or with shabbos leftovers after a hard day of Pesach cleaning and little league games.

Samuel Adams Spring Ale is under the Kosher Supervision of the Star-K. To see what the experts on Beer Advocate think about the White Ale, please follow this link - http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/35/1879.

As always, please remember to drink responsibly and to never waste good beer unless there is no designated driver.

If you've tried this beer or any others which have been reviewed on the kosher beers site, please feel free to post your comments (anonymous comments are acceptable).

Finally, as this will be my last post before Pesach, I wish everyone a chag kasher v'sameach. I will (b'n) be posting next on April 20, 2009.

If you have seen this post being carried on another site such as JBlog, please feel free to click here to find other articles on the kosherbeers blogsite. Hey its free and you can push my counter numbers up!