Mast Landing Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Gunner's Daughter

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Gunner's Daughter is a flavored spin-off of Mast Landing's Gunner's Daughter milk stout, brewed in Maine. It is a limited-style release, not the brewery's core stout. The base beer is a milk stout, and the cookie dough character is added on top of it. The details supplied don't include an ABV or IBU, so treat any figures you see elsewhere as unconfirmed for this release. Milk stouts get their body and sweetness from lactose, a sugar yeast can't ferment. That leaves a fuller, rounder mouthfeel and a softer finish than a dry Irish stout. Dessert-style versions like this one usually lean into that sweetness. Expect roasted malt, cocoa and coffee notes under a brown-sugar, vanilla and baked-dough sweetness, with hop bitterness kept low so the dessert flavors come through. Sweet adjunct stouts of this kind tend to drink thick, so a smaller pour is easy to finish. Serve it cooler than room temperature but not ice cold, around 50 to 55°F (10 to 13°C). That is roughly 20 to 30 minutes out of a home refrigerator. Straight from the fridge, cold dulls the chocolate and dough aromatics and can make the beer taste thin. As it warms, the roast and vanilla open up. A tulip, snifter or stemmed tasting glass suits it best. The curved bowl holds the aroma, and a pour of 6 to 10 ounces fits a beer this rich. A standard pint glass works, but it lets the aroma escape. For pairing, the beer works best as dessert or alongside one. Vanilla bean ice cream is the obvious match, and a scoop in a glass makes a simple stout float. Warm chocolate chip cookies, brownies and salted caramel bars also work well, because the salt balances the sweetness. Sharp cheeses such as aged cheddar offer a savory contrast. If you want something smoky alongside it, barbecue with a restrained sauce can work, but the sweetness of the beer will dominate.