Beasts of Bourbon toured Europe and then released a third album, Black Milk, in July 1990. Jansen was disappointed "it pales by comparison to the two previous albums" although it was "a fine album of lurching blues-driven rock". In Germany they issued a non-album single, "You Let Me Down" / "Blanc Garçon", the tracks appeared on the German version of the album, Jansen felt these "two cuts surpass anything on [Black Milk]". By February 1991, Baker and Sujdovic were replaced by Brian Henry Hooper on bass guitar and Tony Pola on drums – both from Salmon's new band, The Surrealists. Beasts of Bourbon undertook their Kick Arse Australian tour. The line-up of Hooper, Jones, Perkins, Pola and Salmon recorded the group's fourth album, The Low Road, with Tony Cohen producing. McFarlane saw it was "brimming with urgency, surrealism, atmosphere, myth, illusion and honesty, but above all, hard-nosed rock riffs". While Jansen described their "straighter, less garage punk sound" although "it proved a little tough to get the live energy of a performance to tape". The Low Road featured "Chase the Dragon" – which relates to heroin smuggling – a "blistering ... nefarious delight".
