There are very few iconic New Zealand products that we rave about that truly live up to the hype. But it’s been over five years since ‘Choco-Gate’ aka ‘AARGH’ (After Auckland's Rioting Choco-Gate Hell), arrived on our shores and the Lewis Road Creamery still reigns supreme. And this Valentine's Day they've just come up with a new flavour to obsess over. But first, a quick history lesson.
Oh you don’t remember Choco-Gate? When their famous chocolate milk dropped and demand way outstripped supply? People stealing bottles from supermarket carts, making their own on the black market, businesses hiring security muscle to enforce one bottle per person? Yeah that was ridic. But it all goes to show that when Kiwis like something, we like it hard.
Clearly any detractors who rolled their eyes at the craze, and scoffed at us stepping over our dead mother for another bottle-o-creamy goodness hadn’t tasted it. Seriously—we’ve watched mouth after mouth fall to the floor, agape with wonder at how something so inane as chocolate milk in this day and age can make us vibrate.
It’s pretty simple: Nostalgia. Basically, when you drop a batch of pure unadulterated nostalgia into your product, you create magic. We see you LRC, but are we complaining? Yes, we are—because we want more. It’s been five years, ruin us, please! And it seems the creamery gods have heard us.
This year, they've added a touch of real rose essence to their famous chocolate milk, essentially creating an extremely moreish (and, frankly genius) version of Turkish Delight in a glass. Want our advice? Prepare for a stampede and get yourselves down to your nearest supermarket before the rationing begins.
The details
What: Lewis Road Creamery Chocolate & Rose Milk
When: Available from Monday 10 February for a limited time
Where: Any supermarket worth its salt
Image credit: Lewis Road Creamery