I have been drinking Milk since I was a kid. I love the stuff. It goes great with some meals and desserts. It's best when it tastes fresh and (for lack of a better word) clean. Up until about three years ago I never gave milk a second thought. I'd purchase my favorite regional major brand, or a store brand if they were out. Once in a great while, a jug of milk would go bad before its time. You would know because it smelled and tasted sour.. usually really sour.

However, around 2.5 years ago I started noticing that more and more of the milk I purchased smelled and tasted slightly sour. Just enough to piss in your cheerios so to speak. I switched brands several times, but no luck. I ended up finding a solution in local organic milk, which offered only half of the amount for twice the price, but tasted as fresh as you could ask for. I have traveled the country a bit, and every time I try a regular one gallon jug of milk, it ends up tasting and smelling slightly sour to me. I didn't give it much thought for a while until I was forced to purchase a non local jug of milk on my way home. Sure enough, it was sour.

What happened? I think the FDA/USDA relaxed some requirements and now dairy farms are allowing their milk to age longer before pushing it out. That's the only thing I can think of.

for you sciencefags.. I've tried 1% 2% whole, skim and it's all the same. However... eggnog and half and half and heavy cream seem to remain unaffected.