Left Hand Ambidextrous Ale Imperial Milk Stout

So here's another one from the time frame when my laptop was acting up strangely. I've since arrested this activity, but haven't solved the problem completely. I can write, though, but looking at those aborted notes, I could not, then, no sir, and those half-notes sat on my desktop til now.

But some backstory, which makes my failure of writing all the sadder. This was not a beer I necessarily wanted, and was sent to me in a keg after I couldn't get something I did want. (Great Lakes Blackout Stout was the one I asked for.) I accepted this Imperial Milk Stout, and oddly enough I found no information online about it, this Ambidextrous Ale, aka Step One. The only thing I could find was a reference on Left Hand's website about it being on tap at their taproom, but this was a keg sitting in my cooler in Minnesota, but there were no reviews from anyone, anywhere, on any site. Eventually, I decided it wouldn't be part of our Imperial March, because I found 4 true Imperial Stouts, and tapped this Imperial Oak-aged Milk Stout early, it was very popular, and I finally took this photo, and started these notes before it ran out last Tuesday. Here are the notes:

Beautiful, l Left Hand Ambidextrous Ale

Full-on ebony appearance, under a rich, cocoa-tan head of froth. A beautiful glass of stout.

Cream and oak in the nose, hints of vanilla

Wow, that's it, that's as far as I got. Because of the crazy dancing cursor, sometimes spinning a blue screen that erased everything I wrote.

But here are my memories of my thoughts of what I remember, so to speak. It was tasty, it was smooth, and it was strong. And although it was good, I didn't like it. Milk stouts should not be 10.2% alcohol. It was every bit good except for the BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, in the brain, without a fullness and richness of flavor and texture that prepares you for such an alcoholic barrage.

There were some reviews online, on both BeerAdvocate and ratebeer.com, when I finally had it on tap, and I found a few common refrains from some reviewers. Most were in the line of "I wish it were more like an Imperial Stout", "I wish it had the flavors of an RIS", etcetera. Well, you're not getting them, Bucko. You're getting the flavors of a milk stout, a light, sessionable style, with all the alcohol it shouldn't have. 

Instances where I actually like and enjoy and rave on about "imperial" version of lighter styles are a very small set indeed. This one did not break through that mold.