Amid the torrent of new beers that flows unabated from the tanks of the Batch Brewing Company, one of the notable things about their range is that a permanent place has long been made for Elsie, their milk stout. This is a beer style that feels like it ought not to have cachet with modern drinkers. It feels like an old fashioned English thing, one whose heyday might have come and gone when Ena Sharples downed her last pint and walked out the doors of The Rover’s Return. But Batch brews it all year round, which means there are a lot of people drinking it all year round, even in Sydney. And that's rather heartening because it can be a wonderful beer style: wholesome, nourishing and sweet. It’s a special treat, an affordable luxury. But once a year they come up with something even more sumptuous: Elsie’s Other Udder.
This is, more or less, a doubled up version of Elsie. It features more richness, more chocolate, more sweetness, more alcohol. It has more of everything but is just as smooth and easy to drink, gliding down with a sensation somewhere on the slim side of creamy. It is, to paraphrase Kellogg’s Cocoa Pops primate, just like a chocolate milkshake, only beery.
Nick Oscilowski
Published July 20, 2018 2018-07-20 00:00:00
