Equate Chocolate Nutritional Shake

Thick, mildly grainy, chalky, and severely handcuffed by a strong, metallic flavor that hits in the back half of the sip. Fortunately it doesn't linger for very long, but when both the taste and texture are miles from decency (let alone perfection) it's hard to give this anything above a deuce.

Carnation Breakfast Essentials Cookies & Cream

Poorly-executed cookies & cream flavor reliant on a fakey-sweet upfront pop and little more than instant regret on the back end. It didn't feel convincingly 'good'-- and by 'good' I mean 'not rotten'-- so it had me verifying the date stamped on the package a couple times. As of today, the Use By date is still 4+ months in the future, so I'm left to assume it's just general funkiness (and not bacterial invasion) responsible for the off-kilter taste.

Stooksbury Dairy Creamery Cocoa Coffee

As with nearly all mocha or chocolate/coffee milks, the coffee flavor way outpaces the chocolate flavor, where it feels like just coffee milk. Not a complaint, by the way, just an observation. This has a bit of a sweeter disposition than some others I've recently had, and I certainly find it enjoyable, but would be even more so (for me anyway) if it were reigned in a touch. But the creamline base is velvety and does more than its share of the flavor distribution and maintenance from initlal sip to lasting, satisfying repose.

Linden Creek Dairy Chocolate Milk

Sharply flavorful with a unique salty-maltiness to the cocoa flavor that works wonders in concert with the creamline base. Each sip is satisfying, yet addicting-- in that I want more as soon as I put down the cup. Likely, I have a problem. But this stuff does not. Wow!

REDCON1 MRE Protein Shake Milk Chocolate

Disturbingly (albeit artificially) sweet upon first sip, with a chalky, gummy, non-milky consistency that's neither enjoyable nor uncommon among protein-fortified drinks. The faux-sweetness lingers well beyond its initial spike, and the flavor certainly doesn't improve over time. I get that taste and drinking experience isn't this product's raison d'être, but dialing back the sweetness by 300% would yield at least a 100% improvement.

Le-Ara Farm Chocolate Milk

Medium-to malty cocoa flavor over a warm creamline base-- deliciously well balanced and a breeze to sip-- I'm nearly two pints in and finally remembered that I need to write the review. In short, if you like non-homogenized chocolate milk, you may not be surprised, but you won't be disappointed here.

Le-Ara Farm Cookies & Cream Milk

Tasty and accurate representation of cookies & cream, and certainly the creamline milk more than aids the 'cream' part of the equation, which, in my view, is the more interesting and enjoyable of the two. It's not over sweet, which is a common drawback in flavored milks (C&C in particular), but still feels desserty and worthy of your pursuit if potable cookies & cream is your calling.

Henry Farms of Knox White Chocolate Milk

Refreshingly undersweet and profiles more like a vanilla milk than anything else. It's very enjoyable, and doubtless the best white chocolate milk I've ever had. I love the smooth, unencumbered viscosity that does its job well with minimal baggage save for a slight astringency on the back end. All in all, a fun way to spend a few minutes and a few hundred cals.

Harmony Acres Dairy Chocolate Milk

Warmly creamy base and well-rounded across the board, this is a worthy steward of the creamline chocolate milk mantle that I've come to love so much. Easily drinkable and effortlessly indulgent, why anyone would homogenize milk these days is beyond me.

Mitch-Hill Dairy Farm & Creamery Chocolate Milk

Immediately flavorful, with a powerful cocoa punch and blast of supporting sweetness that will raise eyebrows and insulin levels in quick succession. Its delicious creamline base and hefty flavor lends to a solid, indulgent feel throughout, and one that I'm looking forward returning to as I make my way through the gallon jug. 

Henry Farms of Knox Chocolate Milk

Deliciously creamy-- and that's not only the main focus, but pretty much the only focus. The visuals are fantastic, as is the drinking experience-- it's just lacking a resolute cocoa flavor. What's there is super subtle, and it remains well balanced from a salty/sweet perspective as well, so it's still has a creamy, indulgent feel that you'd expect from a creamline chocolate milk-- just with delicate dusting of chocolate.

Westover Dairy Chocolate Milk

Surprisingly amped-up flavor that leads with a searing sweetness but delivers enough chocolate and salt to feel more like a haymaker than a sucker-punch. After repeated sips, you develop a cumulative throat-sting from the syrupy sweetness, and the cocoa flavor disappears rather abruptly in the aftertaste. It starts off strong, but finishes rather feebly.

Westover Dairy Lowfat Chocolate Milk

Decently smooth, but significantly over-sweet, without a strong enough cocoa contingent to balance things out from an overall flavor standpoint. The heavy-handed sweetness attracts more attention than it should, since it's unfortunately a syrupy sweetness that ages poorly in the fridge and on the palate.

Bored Cow Chocolate Milk

Tough to put into words, but think late-August seafood restaurant dumpster juice, without the intrigue. Solidly misses the mark on every facet of chocolate milk (except for a nice but unnaturally bright brown coloration). The flavor is a dull, non-sweet fruitiness with zero inkling of chocolate flavor, and the texture is an odd confluence of watery but chalky and sadly astringent during the remorseful afterglow. I applaud the concept. I dig the niche. I like the branding. Hate is a strong word. I absolutely hate the flavor and drinking experience.

On Tapp Dairy Chocolate Milk

Absolutely annihilates that ideal thin-viscosity-to-high-creaminess-ratio that I so covet so much, delivering a fantastic dark and slightly mature cocoa flavor to any and all nearby flavor receptors. There's a grassy butteriness to the cream that ensures maximum flavor extension on the back end with no deterioration whatsoever-- it's flawless from start to finish, the only problem being that the bottle doesn't magically refill itself. All Kentucky roads should lead to Springfield-- I just saved it into my 'favorites' on my GPS.

Freshly Dairy Chocolate Milk

Delicious cocoa-malt punch with a velvety creamline texture that ends with a salty nip. It remains refreshingly focused on cocoa and cream throughout, and the sweetness plays its supporting role well, doing its part to enhance, not usurp the limelight. In total, it's a solidly built, slightly undersweet and over-creamy non-homogenized chocolate milk well worth your time and attention.

Southern Cultured Creamery Chocolate Milk

Densely flavorful creamline body that, much like fine wines and chocolate milk reviewers, gets better with age. A few days after opening the half gallon, I sense a grassier note which adds much desired 'dimensionality' to the cream. The cocoa flavor strikes the medium-to-malty part of my gustatory cortex and is warmly chaperoned by the cream flavor for a pleasant entrance and graceful exit-- of course leaving you wanting more.

Brookshire's Whole Chocolate Milk

Strongly chocolaty and sweet- it drinks thickly but packs a satisfying punch of flavor making the girth seem worth it. In a world of subpar private label chocolate milks, this stuff stands out and dares you not to be satisfied (if not won over) by its competence.

Mississippi State University Chocolate Milk

Its relatively light complexion accurately suggests a lighter cocoa presence-- creating a flavor void that is filled with a powerful (not quite 'searing') sweetness that eventually gives way to a chocolate note on the way out. It's still an enjoyable way to spend a couple minutes and a few hundred calories, but I'm left longing for a stronger cocoa flavor and more equitable sweet/salty balance.

HEB Mootopia Reduced Fat Chocolate Milk

Strong and quick pop of upfront sweetness that settles down with a cocoa dusting in the latter third of each sip. A strong saltiness both distracts from the chocolate flavor and likely obfuscates any would-be twang from the non-sugar sweeteners. In short, it's unique, and has a punchy flavor-- just not in the exact locations and proportions that you'd get in a top-tier chocolate milk.