The Duck-Rabbit Craft Brewery is a small microbrewery from Farmville, North Carolina. Founded by Paul Philippon, a former
philosophy professor at East-Michigan University, Duck-Rabbit opened and sold
their first beer in August of 2004. As a
former philosophy professor, Philippon chose the Duck-Rabbit/Rabbit-Duck
illusion as his inspiration for not only the name but also the symbol of his
brewery.
Originally
appearing in a German Humor Magazine in the 1892, the Duck-Rabbit was
republished by Harper’s weekly in 1892; an American psychologist, Joseph
Jastrow in 1899; a German philosopher named Ludwig Wittgenstein in 1953 and an
American philosopher, Thomas Kuhn in 1962.
The Duck-Rabbit represents the way in which the same image can be
perceived in two very different ways. At
the point, Jastrow, Wittegenstein and then Kuhn were making a very cogent point
that perception is not directly dictated by outside stimuli, but rather by an
individual’s perception of those stimuli.
Whether you see the duck first, or
the rabbit first often has more to do with other events in your life, for
instance children are more likely to see it as a rabbit if they are shown an
image of the duck-rabbit around Easter.
The duck-rabbit shows that our perceptions may not always align with
reality because we see either what we want to see, or what we fear to see. As for me, I prefer to see my beer glass
full, or at the very least half full.
On to the review. At Beeradvocate, Milk Stout has a score of
86. Over at ratebeer, it has a score of
94 overall and a 90 for style.
They Say:
The
Duck-Rabbit Milk Stout is
a traditional full-bodied stout brewed with lactose (milk sugar). The subtle
sweetness imparted by the lactose balances the sharpness of the highly roasted
grains which give this delicious beer its black color.
I Say:
Duck-Rabbit
Milk Stout pours a dark translucent mahogany with a thin, light tan head that
holds moderate retention, receding to the edges of the glass over the course of
a few minutes and leaves behind intricate lacing. The aroma is milk chocolate, vanilla, caramel,
roasted malts and a slight nuttiness with a low-level, lingering alcohol notes.
The
flavor is full of coffee, chocolate, caramel, smoke and roasted barley. It has a slight fruity sweetness and a tart
lactic acid note (similar to yogurt), with a bitter-sweet finish. The Duck-Rabbit Milk Stout is medium bodied
with a moderate to high level of carbonation.
The
Duck-Rabbit Milk Stout was a good milk-stout, and is certainly one of the
better milk stouts that I have had. The
only fault that I found with it was the slight note of lactic acid, which is a
sign of infection. It did not distract
from the beer, but I doubt it was an intended flavor. I would be very interested in trying another
bottle to verify whether my experience was just a fault characteristic of one
bottle, or if it is a true characteristic of the beer. That said, I am looking forward to the bottle
of Duck-Rabbit Amber that I have waiting in my fridge.
That’s
all for today, be sure to check back on Wednesday for review of Duck-Rabbit
Amber Ale.
Happy Drinking!
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