nitro pour from the bottle (left hand milk stout)

iparks81 · Feb 19, 2012

Left hand has done it. bottled beer with nitrogen and poors like it was dispensed from a stout faucet.

http://www.lefthandbrewing.com/

picked up a 6er at whole foods, The left hand rep was there and he had said there was a new way of bottling that made it possible to have the thick creamy head (and cascade) from the bottle with no widget...
I went home and chilled the beer and gave it a shot.
Not exactly like LHMS on beergas, but damn close...and it cascades..pretty cool!
from what the rep was saying theres not going to be distributed to many states but it will be out there.

anyone else get to try this beer?

Teromous · Feb 19, 2012

So did they just bottle it on beergas, or is there something else involved?

Yuri_Rage · Feb 19, 2012

Most likely, they either bottle in a pressure vessel or add a measured amount of liquid nitrogen just before capping. Either way, the bottle needs to have a relatively high pressure (provided by nitrogen, which is not very soluble) despite its low carbonation.

iparks81 · Feb 19, 2012

I dont know the details, but from what the rep said that it was a new method.
In his words "left hand has come out with new technology to bottle with nitrogen"

He also mentioned that the technology would probably leak and other breweries would do the same for their beers that go good on beergas.

unionrdr · Feb 19, 2012

Must be something totally new for them. The 6'r we had a couple months ago didn't have that. But it was a darn good milk stout already.

twinturboa51 · Feb 19, 2012

met the rep at a tasting about a week and a half ago. Left hand makes some good beer. I enjoy pouring the nitro, basically just dump it in a glass and watch it cascade. it think they just came out with the nitro at the beginning of the month

smalliewader · Feb 20, 2012

I picked up a 6 of the Nitro a few weeks ago in Colorado. I don't know how they do it, but it's fantastic. Best stout I've had in years. I also had it on tap and the two are identical.

DrPhunk · Feb 20, 2012

read an article on this last week (sorry, no link) and it said that the cascade effect was primarily attributed to the new style bottle that they are using. theres bumps or waves or something along the inner wall to agitate the beer as it is dumped out.
so I guess I wont be reusing those for my own batch ;-)

sKafifer · Feb 20, 2012

i picked up a six pack last friday...

they just released it out here last week...

unfortunatley, it was towards the end of the night of tasting about 9 different beers with some friends so it's hard to remember at the moment...

looks like i'll have to do some more "research" tonite with dinner!

TheMan · Feb 20, 2012

I got a sixer a couple months ago. I like the original better, which is still my favorite stout. The Nitro is up there though.

D_Ranged_Eskimo · Feb 20, 2012

One of the best beers (and the best milk stout) I've ever had. I had it on tap at Left Hand back in august, and bought a 6-er while I was in Steamboat in January. Thought that would be the last time I could try it for a while, but to my suprise, they carry it in Texas!

Simply amazing!

Yuri_Rage · Feb 20, 2012

If the bottle is unique, I'd love for someone to post some photos. Break the bottle if necessary to find what's different about it. My guess is that there is a pocket with a pinhole in the bottom of the bottle, effectively acting like a widget.

ThreeRatBastards · Feb 23, 2012

My guess is that the answer is in this article:
http://www.economist.com/node/18329424

Here is a video of how it's poured:

twinturboa51 · Feb 23, 2012

the bottle looks normal. The video above is how i pour it

Yuri_Rage · Feb 23, 2012

Please, someone carefully break an empty bottle of this stuff and examine it!

D_Ranged_Eskimo · Feb 23, 2012

Define carefully.

gr8shandini · Feb 23, 2012

ThreeRatBastards said:
My guess is that the answer is in this article:
http://www.economist.com/node/18329424

Thanks, but why not quote the relevant info?

The widgets days, though, may be numbered, for a crack group of mathematicians from the University of Limerick, led by William Lee, has modelled bubble formation in stout beers in detail. Their work suggests that lining the rims of cans and bottles with a material similar to an ordinary coffee filter would be a simpler, cheaper alternative to the widget.
. . .
He and his team spiked their beer with extra fibres from a cut-up coffee filter and watched the bubbles form under a microscope. By crunching the numbers from these observations, they calculate that lining a can of stout with nine square centimetres of fibres should form a head as good as that produced by a widget. . . .

cricky101 · Feb 23, 2012

ThreeRatBastards said:
My guess is that the answer is in this article:
http://www.economist.com/node/18329424

Here is a video of how it's poured:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Q5eIuuJpak

Thanks for the article. Interesting stuff! :mug:

Yuri_Rage · Feb 23, 2012

D_Ranged_Eskimo said:
Define carefully.

Break it into big pieces without personal injury. Post pictures and findings.

ReverseApacheMaster · Feb 23, 2012

I can make any beer foam up by pouring directly upside down.

Yuri_Rage · Feb 23, 2012

I finally watched the video. I'm with ReverseApache on that one. If you undercarbonate any beer and then dump it out violently, the results will be similar (although without a restrictor plate, widget, or possibly Left Hand's magic technology, the bubbles may not be as fine, and the mouthfeel may suffer).

FlatcapBrew · Feb 23, 2012

I also noticed a while ago that guinness doesnt use widgets in their bottles. I never really looked into it though and i will have to try left hands nitro i have always enjoyed their milk stout in the past

Kate00 · Feb 24, 2012

I'm having one right now. It's really good.

I didn't smash the bottle apart, but I rinsed it good, examined the inside in sunlight and a bright indoor light. I didn't see anything special about the bottle or notice anything coming out of it. Just a bottle.

I'm guessing they have a trick to nitro carb.

Yuri_Rage · Oct 14, 2012

I finally found a sixer of "Nitro." The bottles aren't special - just ISB 12 oz brown bottles. It's true, you have to dump the beer to get any cascade effect, and it is pretty pronounced, though the beer is left a little more flat than a standard nitro pour. As an experiment, I opened a standard Left Hand Milk Stout and let it stand in the fridge overnight. I dumped it out, and the beer was similarly flat, but did not cascade or have the creamy head. I'm guessing they bottle a low carbed version in an environment that's under greater than one atmosphere of nitorgen pressure to achieve the effect.

unionrdr · Oct 14, 2012

Finaly had the nitro stout a couple months ago. It tastes a bit different than the regular milk stout. More pronounced tastes of chocolate malt & the like. A bit different but darn good just the same.

lolznrofls · Aug 5, 2014

ThreeRatBastards said:
My guess is that the answer is in this article:
http://www.economist.com/node/18329424

Here is a video of how it's poured:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Q5eIuuJpak

Thats great stuff there..love the comment section.

lolznrofls · Aug 5, 2014

Nitro milk stout is yummmmmmmm

nitro pour from the bottle (left hand milk stout)

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