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First released in 1997 by New Holland Brewing out of Holland, Michigan, Dragon's Milk has been a favorite of beer enthusiasts for decades, introducing many to the Imperial Stout style. While New Holland has grown to more than 400 employees, it's craft roots are as strong as ever and they continue to put new and interesting product on shelves nationwide. In this post, we'll explore the history of Dragon's Milk and how New Holland has deftly elbowed it's way back into my fridge.
Dragons Milk - The Flagship
Black as midnight, the original Dragon's Milk is a high-gravity imperial stout aged in first-use bourbon barrels for three months. The malt bill includes significant proportions of Munich malt, chocolate malt, and roasted barley which leaves enough residual sugar to help cut down any abrasiveness from higher final alcohol content or tannin extraction from the barrel. Barrels used are recently emptied of bourbon or "wet" which means that there is plenty of bourbon spirit character available for extraction to the beer, revealing itself in the flavor influence of vanillin, coconut lactones, and woody sugars. The "Dragon's Milk" name is taken from medieval times, a knight's due reward for slaying the foul beast, though by the 17th century it had taken on a more colloquial use in England, meaning the finest or strongest beer in the house.
Stats:
- ABV: 11.0% (Standard)
- IBU: 31 (Low bitterness spotlights malt/barrel sweetness)
- Estimated Calories: 330
While it doesn't have quite the same level of brand fervor of Goose Island's Bourbon County Stout, Dragons Milk has done well leaning into their mythic marketing, securing high profile collaborations with Dungeons and Dragons as well as many conventions. Rated a 90 on Beer Advocate and a 4.05 on Untapped, the beer is known for being of consistently excellent quality though some craft snobs seem to discredit it due to the scale of production and wide distribution. To that I say: Hogwash. Many breweries don't tend to produce expensive and relatively niche styles like imperial stouts, especially aged ones, year-round. The fact that you can get Dragon's Milk all 12 months of the year is a remarkable blessing. Revisiting it today, I find little to criticize and much to love, re-underwriting my initial rating from 10-years ago as correct at 4.25.
The Growing Portfolio
To it's redoubtable flagship, New Holland has added a growing lineup of accompanying beery brothers.
- Tales of Gold - Bourbon Barrel Aged Gold Ale, in oak one month, which doubles-down on sweet caramels, honey, and pastry
- Crimson Keep - Bourbon Barrel Aged Red Ale, in oak one month, with notes of stone fruit and high malt flavor
- Emerald IPA - one that I have not yet had, an IPA fermented in an oak barrel and featuring an amble amount of dry hopped lotus.
Each brings something fairly unique to the table, especially the IPA. Over more than 700 ratings, I have not encountered a barreled IPA, especially a dry hopped one. This variety is one of the things that makes Dragon's Milk particularly appealing to me. While you can definitely find more imperial stouts in market, some of them aged, barreled versions of non-stout styles are few and far between. What would otherwise require a trip to the growler fill place, can instead be achieved with your weekly groceries at Publix. What if you need even more flavor?
Dragon's Milk Reserve - A Coup de grâce
Enter the Dragon's Milk Reserve series, a rotating release of Dragon's Milk recipes brewed with adjuncts, often venturing firmly into the "pastry" or "dessert" stout realm. Each iteration is only around for 3-6 months and they're all known to be solid, though some may be more polarizing than others. At time of writing, I count more than 25 distinct releases (though some may be taproom only):
- Coffee & Chocolate
- S'mores (2025)
- Oatmeal cookie
- Banana Coconut
- Vanilla Chai
- Cherry Chocolate
- Salted Caramel
- Mocha Mint
- Orange Chocolate
- Raspberry Hibiscus
- Mexican Spice Cake
- Maple Oak
- Rye Barrel with Chilies and Vanilla
- Chocolate, Marshmallow, Graham Cracker
- and MANY MANY More.
I stumbled onto the Oatmeal cookie release on a random grocery run, finding it to be on part with most of my local craft selection, and it has kicked off a renaissance of my interest in the brand. These reserve series releases are much more readily obtained than the hallowed and elusive Triple Mash and are a fair deal at around $4.50 per 12oz. bottle.
TLDR
New Holland's Dragon's Milk line of products has really hit its stride with the Reserve Series, providing widely available and interesting, high-gravity brews year-round.