When the weather gets cold, I can’t help but turn to darker beers to warm up the chilly nights.  So I went down to the “beer cellar”, which is really just a closet in my basement that has a lock on the door, and pulled out a milk stout.  This one is from Lancaster Brewing Co. and it’s the first beer I’ve had from this brewery.  I would figure a brewery in Lancaster would make some reference to the Amish and they do in their Four Grain Pale Ale.  Their web site professes to “pay respect to the old traditions” in their brewing style. Let see how their Milk Stout holds up to scrutiny:

It pours almost black out of the bottle.  There is virtually no head and subsequently, no lacing.   I can pick up a slight coffee aroma as I wave the glass beneath my nose.  The first sip feels like a slightly flat Coke swirling around my mouth.  It has a strong coffee flavor with a bitter finish coming through loud and clear. 

This beer is not nearly as creamy as other milk stouts I have had.  Milk stouts get their sweetness from the lactose, or milk sugar, which is unfermentible by the yeast.  As a result, these stouts are much sweeter than your typical bitter stouts like Guinness.   Unfortunately, I didn’t taste the sugary, sweetness I was expecting and am not crazy about this beer.  The Lancaster is not terrible, it just pales in comparison to some others that I’ve tried like Left Hand’s Milk Stout.  Now there’s a creamy, satisfying stout.