Plant-based milk beverages, notably soymilk and almond milk, are competing with dairy milk in the refrigerated retail case. It is unknown if product sensory differences affect consumer behaviors and purchasing decisions. Dairy and plant-based milk beverages were evaluated for acceptability and characterization of product attributes and emotional response for dairy milk, almond milk, soymilk, and soymilk with added titanium dioxide for whitening. We hypothesized that appearance would affect acceptability; soymilk treatments and almond milk, with a darker visual appearance, would have different acceptability and emotional characterization than dairy milk. Untrained panelists (n = 49) received each product for evaluation of overall acceptability, just-about-right (JAR) scale, and check-all-that-apply (CATA) emotional terminology (EsSense) ballot. Mean acceptability of all treatments was between “neither like or dislike” and “like slightly” on a 9-point hedonic scale (mean = 5.33); however, all products appeared to have bimodal distributions. CATA emotional terms calm, content, good, and mild were chosen by >20% of panelists (frequently selected terms) for all treatments. Of the frequently selected terms across products, calm was selected less for soymilk, good was chosen more for almond milk, and the terms happy and pleasant were not chosen for dairy milk. Mild (almond, soymilk with titanium dioxide, and dairy milk) and quiet (soymilk, soymilk with titanium dioxide) terms were associated with decreased hedonic score based on penalty life analysis. Pleased (soymilk) and satisfied (dairy milk) were most closely associated with high hedonic scores. Dairy milk had a more optimal appearance than all plant-based milk products based on JAR characteristics. Almond milk and soymilk have different product characteristics than dairy milk, based on JAR, that influence acceptability. Plant-based beverages, while competing for shelf-space in the dairy retail case, do not match consumer just-about-right expectations for sensory quality as well as dairy milk. Understanding consumer emotional perception of dairy milk compared with plant based milk beverages can add value to marketing and promotion of fluid milk in a competitive beverage market.