The use of milk (or more specifically the sugar contained within) in brewing has origins around the turn of the 19th century in England. Beers were being brewed with lower and lower ABVs due to consumer preference and excessive taxes, and this left some brewers feeling their product was left a bit thin and watery – enter lactose.
While lactose had first been discovered in milk in the early 1600s, it took until 1780 before it was recognised as a sugar and even longer before it was isolated and used in things like baby formula.
Due to lactose almost exclusively being found in milk, Saccharomyces cerevisiae (brewer’s yeast) only ever really came into contact with two sugars: maltose and sucrose. After countless generations of brewers domesticating brewer’s yeast, it no longer recognised lactose and lost any ability to ferment it that it may have once had.
Brewer at Good Land preparing a bag of lactose to add to a brew.
While lactose is much less sweet than table sugar (about 84% less sweet to be specific) it can provide a more subtle sweetness and creamy, fuller body – perfect for what a brewer was looking for in 1900. Plus, with something as healthy as milk (along with fairly lax marketing laws) breweries could market this as a ‘health tonic’ with some sources reporting targeting of nursing mothers.
While the use of lactose in beer fell off a couple of decades later, brewers in the craft industry started reintroducing it to the classic dark beers they were once added to in stouts and porters. What started as sweet porters and milk stouts has given rise to some of the delicious abominations we see today in adjuncted-to-the-teeth pastry stouts and dessert porters.
Smoothie sour beer by RaR Brewing, loaded with lactose!
In recent years, brewers have made the jump out of the dark beers and have been using lactose to round out some of the harsher aspects of heavily hopped IPAs, giving rise to new substyles like milkshake and oat cream IPAs. They also have used it in sours to sweeten an otherwise acidic brew to create smoothie and pastry sours. It’s worth noting that some strains of microbes used in sours and wild ales can ferment lactose – so brewers beware!
From its origins as a solution to watered down beers more than a hundred years ago to its modern-day role in bold, boundary pushing craft styles, lactose has proven to be a versatile tool in the brewer’s belt. Whether adding body and sweetness to a stout or smoothing out a tart AF sour, its reemergence shows how historical techniques can be revised and find new life in contemporary brewing!
FEATURED IN ALE ODYSSEY- BOX #16
- RaR - Bistro Brûlée; an Imperial Pastry Stout with lactose added.
- Range - RB7: The Most Pastry Filled Stout Ever; an Imperial Pastry Stout with lactose added.
- Mountain Culture - Let It Rain; a White Chocolate Oat Cream IPA with lactose added.
What to explore lactose in beer further?
Shop all manner of milk-sugar loaded styles at Carwyn Cellars!
