The Wild Beer Co, Millionaire

I wanted to try this for a while.

A mate up in Manchester, a big fan of his beers (an well used Untappd* profile, 778 unique brews), sent me a photo of this brown bottle with an angry golden stag staring menacingly from the label.

“Random beer of the night” he said.

Brewery: The Wild Beer Company

Brew: Millionaire

Type: Milk Stout

ABV: 4.7%

Read the label, for beer it's random. I never thought I'd see a beer that claims to taste like a sweet baked good. I didn’t think anyone would have thought to add caramel to beer!

Millionaire is a milk stout. Basically a sweet stout. It is made with caramel, sea salt and cacao nibs. These, apparently, create a smooth, balanced, full bodied chocolatey stout.

"I'll have an alcoholic doublemochacaramelfrapélatte please barman!"

As it settles there SHOULD be a creamy head forming…SHOULD.... Had this happened it would have been familiar to stout drinkers. The exception being the caramelish colour.

I poured wrong, I got bugger all head, and no one likes that. I got just enough to get the colour the fact it was kinda creamy, then it was gone. Sad face.

ONWARD & UPWARD…

Under the "creamy head" is a black beer. A very black beer. This is more black than the Jet Black Heart I tried before (sorry BrewDog).

Unlike its packaging, it’s not an angry beer. It's malty, with a dark chocolate edge. Its a heavy flavour that’ll fill you up but its smooth enough that you will want to finish it off. The caramel cuts in, rounding off the flavours and bringing with it the true taste of a dessert.

Why that stag isn't smiling I don't know! It's just had pudding! You can’t be angry after pudding!

Grumpy bastard.

Now. It isn’t as light, taste wise, as the typical non-beery millionaires shortbread, but all the components are there. The maltyness provides the “well baked shortbread” element. Obviously the chocolate and the caramel add their respective parts. The salt does what salt does, makes it a little salty.

Overall there is a depth of taste that creates a new take on the traditional biscuit. A liquid one.

From the smells of dark chocolate to the smooth velvety taste, Wild Beer Co’s Millionaire brings you an alternative to the traditional third course at dinner. But if your greedy, like me, it'll just accompany your pud!

The chocolate is deep and mysterious, the salted caramel isn’t so much salty, as a great lick of sweetness just off from being too much.

I'm a fan! It's just not quite got that comfort of a Guinness. But it’s a snap back to an old favourite. Millionaire made me as happy as a pig in….....salted caramel

4.5/5

Quick tip: Lick your lips after in between sips, or at the end, I you will find a coating of caramel that hadn’t quite got away.

*Untapped is an app that lets you share what you are trying and where you found it, so Swillers like us can find it and drink it to.