Left Hand Milk Stout

While I'll plunk down good money for good beer, and always take gambles with my cash on beers unknown, I'm also looking out for deals. Why have been doing Brooklyn and Left Hand beers lately? Because that's what's on sale at Zipp's for $7 a 6-pack! (It's hard to justify another $18-20 for my 5th ...or 6th, or 7th...bottle of Surly Five when that would get so much more beer.)
So, let's look at the Left Hand Milk Stout, which I first wrote about back in April, 2005:
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Dark brown, shining red 'round the edges,highly carbonated, prodigious cocoa head, which slims down right-quick.
Bittersweet in the nose, but minor, mostly smooth, sweetness and cream.
Taste: Smoothness reigns here, very slick, easy-going, but just enough taste to redeem it. but there's a definite lack of character, though. That could be what they're going for, a readily palatable stout that would please the masses. That's good for something, but not really for me.
Yeah, I really don't feel like knocking it, but true stout aficianados won't miss anything if they pass this by.
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Why was I so harsh on it? Such a hard-to-please beer geek I was, then, wasn't I? Drinking now, it's exactly what it's supposed to be, a palatable, drinkable stout, nothing meant to challenge or contend with, nothing to drain you or constrain you, nothing to blame you or defame you...wait, where am I going with this? I'm off the rails, here!

Once again, I think either the beer got better, or I was being a real dick back then. Go drink Milk Stout, you won't be sorry.