Milk Stout - Tasting Notes

I brewed up this Milk Stout back in July based on a historical recipe from the Shut Up About Barclay Perkins Blog:  1939 William Younger Nourishing Milk Stout.  A milk stout is brewed with Lactose, which can't be fermented by brewers yeast, in order to get a beer with a bit more sweetness than normal (it's also called a "Sweet Stout").  Lactose is the sugar found naturally in milk - it is sweet in a very mild way - and was traditionally marketed as sort of a healthful and fortifying addition to beer (sometimes for nursing mothers  - old marketing being shameless in that way)

I've had this beer on tap at 50-55 F for the last 4 weeks and it's drinking very nicely.  Time for some tasting notes before it's gone

Tasting Notes:

• Aroma:
• Roast, coffee, and a bit of overripe fruit.  Maybe some honey in there and some sweet bready malt.  Maybe some herbal and grassy hop aroma in there as well.
• Appearance:
• Pours with couple finger head that lingers for a couple minutes and leaves some lacing.  Black (dark reddish brown when held to the light) and a little murky
• Flavor:
• Sweet, roasty, and slightly fruity up front.  The finish has a mild level of bitterness which comes pretty close to balancing a sweet character that lingers.  The sweet flavor has a depth and complexity to it - there's an initial up front mild sweetness which I'd credit to the lactose and then an even more mild caramel-like flavor.  I think I pick up on the Licorice as well although it is very subtle (contributing to the slightly fruity character - not really anything like the candy).  May have a slight bit of herbal flavor in the background.
• Mouthfeel:
• Medium-light bodied.  Sticky sweetness.  Pretty easy drinking - goes down very smooth.
• Overall:
• Richly flavored and sweet (but in fairly restrained way) - aroma and flavor are really lovely.  Has a good bit of complexity with a lot of flavors to pick out and quite of interesting notes.  Goes down very easily and I find that 1 glass is never enough