BEER REVIEW: It’s always nice to get back in touch with a friend who you haven’t seen for many years, a friend you weren’t even sure was still alive. I had that experience today. I stopped by one of the few liquor stores in my area that still has a good selection of microbrews, and there it was – Lancaster Milk Stout. Back in the late 90s when micros were in fashion, I fell in love with Lancaster Milk Stout. I would pick it up at the local Shop-Rite liquor store right after doing my food shopping. It was darn good stuff – a smooth combination of barley, hops, coffee and cocoa flavors with a rich, silky texture. Sure, there were (and still are) plenty of other great stouts out there, but this one was the crème de la crème.

But of course, by the time that George W. Bush took office, the big beer distributors started convincing the local stores to get all those independent micros out of the way to make more shelf space for new variations of Bud and Coors and Miller. These have fancy new names and labels and taste much like Bud and Coors and Miller. Because that’s what they are. The empire had struck back against the micro-insurrectionists, and the metro New York beer market was safely back in the hands of big business. My friends from Lancaster didn’t have a chance to hold on amidst the storm. I found a few stores where micros could still get a few yards of shelf in the refrigerator cabinets, but Lancaster didn’t seem to have made the lifeboat.

So you can imagine how I felt when my eyes focused on the six-pack with the cow head (MILK stout, get it?). Could it really be? Yes, it is! Lancaster, you’re back! I purchased it and opened one up with dinner tonight. Had it changed, like everything else in the world? Could it ever be the same?

I’m happy to report that despite some design changes to the label, the stuff in the bottle was still pure heaven on earth. It still poured out black as night, with a creamy head that refuses to fade. It still enraptured the mouth with the smooth feel of coffee and cream, with hints of chocolate mingling with malty sweetness and just enough hopping to remind you that this is beer, after all. It still finished easy, with just enough after-presence to keep you from gulping the bottle down like some fraternity rat at a kegger. Imagine finding out that your long-lost childhood sweetheart had somehow fought off the ravages of time and was still sweet.

There was a medical study released the other day that confirmed that beer drinking causes gout. It has something to do with a chemical in beer called purine. The study probably didn’t indicate whether stout can also cause gout. But no matter. So long as they’re making real beers like Lancaster, I’ll risk a bit of ankle pain. A man needs to have something to live and live dangerously for!