Kotas Reviews I Believe In Santa Milk & Cookies Stout

 Hola Peeps. Been a while since I rapped at ya. Roughly 3 years, really. I'll tell ya, the last 5 years have been rough on the ol' Kotas Household down here in ReviewTown. Not been feelin' very funny for a long while, but maybe, maybe it's time for my triumphant comeback. Or maybe I just wanna get drunk. Ladies and Gentlemen, let's dive into I Believe In Santa Milk & Cookies Stout.

Santa's seen some shit.

I fucking love Christmas. However, it's also the hardest time of year for me these days because two years ago, my ever patient mother passed away, just a year and half after my father's passing, and that hit me really hard for a good while. The Depression Hole may be one of the hardest holes to climb out of, and while I'm not completely out of it, I'm in a much better place than I've been. So I got that goin' on. But enough about my troubles, let's talk about the beer.

Brewed by I Believe Brewing out of my old home town of Nashville, TN (with the world's most barebones website at ibelievebrewing.com), this is a hearty ho ho ho of a stout at 7% alcohol. I gotta say, the branding is on point with this one. It has that "college design project" styling with barebones, okay but not great artwork that lets you know that while they don't believe in using graphic designers, they still know how to have fun! Seriously though, it's got a simple charm about it that I kinda like, even if it ain't exactly the Mona Lisa of beer can art. Let's see what's inside!

I mean, yeah, that's a stout.

Yep, it sure is a stout alright. The aroma is malt with a hint of sweetness. Perhaps that is the "cookies" part of this milk & cookies stout? Let's give 'er a sip. Yep, that sure is a milk stout alright. It's pretty good overall, but definitely not my favorite. It's hard to go wrong with a milk stout, and I Believe In having drinkable beer, which this is. Taste is good, but not great. It's lacking some of that velvety smoothness like you would find in Left Hand's Milk Stout, and there's no cookie notes to speak of, so it's more like a Milk & LIES stout. Still, I'd drink it down without issue, and at 7% I might very well start believing in Santa before the six pack is done. 

On the FACE Rating System, I give it 1 Smiley Face. Better than fine, but not amazing by any standard. Solid. Dependable. Reliable. Like an elf dentist, or a reindeer who is ostracized for his differences before everyone embraces him again after he proves to his capitalist master that he can be Really Useful. I really gotta watch more Christmas Specials than Rudolph.