GILL — Out of the 1,856 chocolate milks Perry James has reviewed around the world since 2015, the chocolate milk of Peila’s Creamery has been rated as udderly delicious.
James, who goes by “PJ,” visited the farm owned by Brian and Keri Peila back in May as part of his travels to New Hampshire and Maine for chocolate milk, adding to his extensive resume of chocolate milk tastings and reviews.
James filmed a review on the farm, and described the milk as having a “deep, mature cocoa flavor” on his website, afoolzerrand.com. He added that Peila’s Creamery’s milk “engages your tastebuds early and often throughout the 5-second joyride that is each sip.”
Out of the 1,856 milks he has tasted from 52 different countries, James gave the Gill milk a perfect 10, joining only 68 others rated at the top.
“For me, it’s a visually striking chocolate milk,” he said. “You’ll see the chocolate on the bottom and the cream at the top, and I think, in my view, you should have to shake it, because, again, in my ideal chocolate milk paradigm, it has three ingredients, and I believe Peila’s is four.”
Brian Peila said this taste testing experience is a first for the farm. Peila said James drank the chocolate milk quickly and took some of the product with him. While they didn’t learn the verdict that day, Peila said James told them it was excellent.
“He definitely said it was great when he was there, but didn’t give an inkling of any number at that present time,” Peila said. “He drank it really, really fast, and he took a bunch of it, so I kind of figured it had to be decent.”
James has compiled all of his chocolate milk tastings and their accompanying reviews on his website, afoolzerrand.com, since his first taste test in Croatia a decade ago, where this niche and passionate interest was born. He’s created YouTube videos of his taste tests and reviews, and has just under 2,000 subscribers.
Over the years, James has tried a variety of locally made and mass-produced chocolate milks, and different types, like lactose-free, protein-based and even raw. To him, the development of the milk is a factor in what makes it good.
“[I’m] generally looking for something like local dairy or creamline milk — creamline being non-homogenized,” James said of the best types of chocolate milk. He noted Peila’s Creamery’s milk is a four-ingredient, creamline milk. “Most local dairies will do that and that’s generally going to be the better-tasting stuff.”
James uses nine criteria points, like color, viscosity, texture and saltiness, to help develop his ratings, which range from 0 to 10. He said that in his pursuit of trying as many chocolate milks as he can, he’s been able to detect the minute details, like the level of grassiness within a milk’s flavor from the cow. While he believes he’s the foremost reviewer of chocolate milk in the world, he still takes a humble approach to his reviews, noting how he’s able to pull from his own catalog of thousands of milks to describe his enjoyment.
“I was always one that would kind of frown on or pooh-pooh the wine sommelier that says, ‘Oh, I can tell the soil. I can taste the roots,’ but there is something to be said for if you have 1,000 wines, your library of experience is going to be different to pull from,” he said. “And you’re at least an expert on your own tastes, not anyone else’s, but to be able to articulate why you like something, I think, is important, and that’s what I’m trying to do.”
This ability to detect the differences makes some middle-of-the-herd reviews more challenging, James said, but he has had his share of bad milks and great milks, with one 0 out of 10 milk from Germany described as being “tough to put into words, but think late-August seafood restaurant dumpster juice, without the intrigue.”
Luckily, every western Massachusetts milk James has tried has been marked with poetic prose of approval, with Mapleline Farm in Hadley also receiving a perfect 10 score, with a description of the flavor journey, saying “the sweetness yields to its surroundings and fades gracefully into the background like a primordial bowhunter.” Our Family Farms in Leyden was also a top pick, receiving a nine out of 10 and being described as fun to drink, “even for someone who has had over 1,800 chocolate milks to this point.”
When asked what keeps him in the game of trying all types of chocolate milk, James said he feels it comes from a completionist mentality, sharing how he finds “satisfaction in exploring” this venture, and not for any notoriety that comes with it.
“I don’t see myself stopping,” James said about his plans to continue, and his goal to test and review 2,000 chocolate milks. “I wish I would have picked a healthier obsession, like kale juice or something, but it’s not as fun.”
To check out James’ reviews, visit afoolzerrand.com/review-filters.