Of the alternatives, rice milk has horrible taste and aftertaste. Soy has a very non-milk-like taste and sometimes bad aftertaste. The almond milk was the only thing I've found that I'll drink by itself. It's the most milk-like, imo. And to me, that was important. I wanted it to resemble milk as much as possible. Some folks don't care though, and they expect it'll be very different.
I'm from Seattle, can you imagine giving up your daily (and sometimes 2-3x daily) latte? Ugh. Coffee & milk seem to be my worst triggers (IBS). If I breakdown and have a starbucks frap bottle drink, I really pay for it almost immediately. It is a little reinforcing to avoid something if you get sick from it everytime you have it! Ugh.

I never even drank the stuff until I moved here... but then I got hooked.
BUT if I make it myself I know exactly what goes into it... plus a huge bottle of the syrup is $3.29 at Cash N Carry so I save a LOT of $$$ and mine is better.