Milk consumption in Japan is steadily declining and there seems to be no drop in production, which means that there is a lot of extra milk that needs to be disposed of every year. A liquor shop owner in Hokkaido, Chitoshi Nakahara, began to wonder what could be done about the oversupply of milk when he was struck the idea of combining milk and beer. He dubbed his new product "bilk."
Bilk is 30% milk and took six months to develop with the help of a local brewer. The production process is much like that of regular beer and the resulting brew "apart from a slight milky scent looks and tastes like ordinary beer." It is currently being produced in limited quantities and is available via mail order, but Nakahara says that he has gotten so much media attention that he is totally out of stock for the moment. Despite this, bilk's success won't be assured until the novelty wears off and Nakahara can find out whether people will continue to buy the product.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
2-16-2007 @ 1:36PM
Robyn said...
i got the sense that it is not beer mixed with milk, but produced from milk...??
http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/national/news/20070131p2a00m0na026000c.html
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2-16-2007 @ 3:45PM
Carolyn said...
That sounds absolutely revolting!
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2-16-2007 @ 4:32PM
B said...
I bet it would make a good beer milkshake, though.
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2-22-2007 @ 8:56AM
gijudy said...
And it would be so healthy!!!...calcium supplemented...great new health drink! Lactose intollerant be warned!
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2-22-2007 @ 9:25AM
Tee said...
Or they could have called it....Meer?
LOL
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2-22-2007 @ 9:34AM
leng said...
Not a new idea - Milk stout
Milk stout (also called sweet stout or cream stout) is a stout containing lactose, a sugar derived from milk. Because lactose is unfermentable by Saccharomyces cerevisiae, it adds sweetness, body, and calories to the finished beer. Contemporary labelling standards prevent the use of the term in the UK. The classic example of sweet stout is Mackeson's XXX.
Milk stout was supposed to be very nutritious, and was given to nursing mothers. In 1875, John Henry Johnson first sought a patent for a milk beer, based on whey, lactose, and hops.
Milk stout was not very widely distributed before Mackeson's Brewery acquired the patents to produce it in 1910. Since then its production has been licensed to other brewers.
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2-22-2007 @ 9:56AM
dave said...
i can almost taste the vomit in my mouth
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2-22-2007 @ 10:08AM
Annette said...
Id love to go out for a night of drinking and wake up the next morning with a bilk mustache lol.You better not drink and drive or if you get pulled over there is no telling the cop you havent been drinking when you have a bilk mustache.
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2-22-2007 @ 11:11AM
Eric said...
WHAT'S NEXT ? WEED LACED WITH SYRUP ? SEED ?..TALK ABOUT A RUSH
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2-22-2007 @ 11:16AM
Betty said...
....wouldn't go good with pretzels!
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2-22-2007 @ 1:49PM
Mike said...
Sounds better than milk and vodka. I call that vomilk and use it as part of a vodka sauce in cooking chicken, NOT drinking. It's a real pain getting the two to mix.
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2-22-2007 @ 10:53PM
Suzie said...
I used to know someone who mixed Scotch with milk because he had a ulcer.
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2-23-2007 @ 10:28AM
Jane Boyles said...
Why does anyone drink milk from another species? Humans are the only mammals that drink milk after weaning. Why? It is the dairy industry that brain washes us to think we need milk after weaning.
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