Darigold Refuel Rich Chocolate Shake

Tons of flavor, particularly on the sweet end of the spectrum, which is also its biggest drawback. There’s no fortified taste whatsoever— it’s all very well hidden behind an impenetrable wall of sweet. The cocoa and salt are both stronger than average as well, and help to provide much-needed dimension.

Bennett Family Farm Chocolate Milk

Delectably creamy and malty, with a natural-feeling texture and well-sustained aftertaste that prolongs the quality of each exquisite sip. The sole downside is the pain and anguish I will feel after having exhausted the 1.89L bottle, knowing that I won’t soon return to western Oregon.

Clover Sonoma Chocolate Milk

Decent cocoa flavor (perhaps with hints of caramel), however the texture woes noticed in the Reduced Fat version are present here as well. It feels unnecessarily thick and the creaminess doesn’t disperse in a natural-feeling way. There’s plenty to like about the flavor here, but the manner in which it's delivered takes me out the experience.

Nutcher Milk Company Chocolate Milk

Devastatingly beautiful mouthfeel, highlighted by a creamy cascade of love that impregnates your palate with the essence of what chocolate milk was intended to be. I feel it deserves at least few more adulatory sentences, but crafting them (and doing it adequate justice) would cut into my time, which, at this moment, is better spent transferring the bottle’s contents to my midsection.

Humboldt Creamery Organic Chocolate Milk

Strikes a fantastic balance of thinner viscosity with remarkable creaminess—perhaps the hardest thing to get ‘right’ for so many producers. It’s delicious and sophisticated feeling, though light on actual cocoa flavor. The ‘blindfold test’ might have more people guessing ‘vanilla’ as the flavor, but it remains a worthwhile pursuit for the chocolate milk enthusiast.

Clover Sonoma Reduced Fat Chocolate Milk

Fairly chocolaty, modestly sweet, but a shockingly unnatural mouthfeel. It doesn't distribute like milk should (especially 2%— which should retain a noticeably creamy element). Perhaps this would be better taken through a straw, but after 2 glasses of searching for things to like, I’m left bloated and unsatisfied.

Sunnyside Farms Chocolate Milk

Less salty, and slightly less flavorful than its plastic-bottle, artificially flavored counterpart, but no less enjoyable. The cocoa flavor is a tad more available here, and despite a more muted profile, it delivers creamy indulgence that you expect from a whole chocolate milk.