Clay Gordon:
Lisabeth: I had my first dark-milk many years ago, one of the Slitti Latte-Nero family (they come in a variety of percentages) and I was immediately hooked. Dark milks are my favorite category of chocolates. The flavor intensity of a dark chocolate, the creaminess of a milk chocolate, and they're less sweet than a dark chocolate from the same bean/roast would be because lactose is less sweet than sucrose. I eat a lot of single-origin, two-ingredient chocolate, which requires attention. When I am looking for something to simply enjoy, dark-milks are the first place I think to reach. People who know my history know my connection to Bonnat so when they introduced the 3, 65% dark-milks I immediately started using them as a tasting flight. Your list is missing the 49% Felchlin Creole, a great offering from one of the best small chocolate makers - if not the best - in Switzerland.
Thanks for your comments Clay! I have not had much experience with Felchlin, given the remote location that I have been living in for the last 7 years (I occasionally make it off this island, but 'occasionally' is the emphasized word ) I just began my head-first dive into chocolate while I was in France 10 years ago, but wish I had known more when I had access to Europe back then! Sigh. But thanks to your list suggestion, I just realized that one of my regular distributors sells Felchlin! I will be asking them about it today.
It is interesting that dark milk chocolate has been around for quite a while, but truly is trending today. Europeans have always understood that rich taste and sweet-and-savoury combinations offer much more enjoyable taste experiences, but here in North America we have finally come around. A whole lot is changing thanks to the rapid development of the bean-to-bar industry, and I love every change! When I left Ottawa, there was not a place to buy origin chocolate (except one pastry shop selling Michel Cluizel and an Italian store selling a few brands of that country). Now there are specialty retailers for chocolate, better access online, and an increased interest all around. So I am sad to not be livng there anymore. But I am doing my part to bring fine chocolate to Northern Ontario .
All that said, I've updated the list with Felchlin and a few others: http://ultimatechocolateblog.blogspot.ca/2015/06/the-ultimate-list-of-dark-milk.html
Have a great weekend!