“Oh god, doesn’t that sound disgusting?”

That’s me, just a few days ago, having found online (again) the ingredients for a Detroit Egg Cream to describe to my lady during a discussion of Vernors Ginger Ale, one of the key ingredients in the Detroit Egg Cream. She’d bought some Vernors that day and I was telling her about this mythical drink that people (weird people) in Michigan drink involving milk and Vernors and the memory of having read about this was so irredeemably strange to me that I had to Google it to make sure I had it right.

Yes, I had it right: Vernors, milk and a crap load of chocolate syrup in a glass. This is the Detroit Egg Cream. But then a funny thing happened: My girlfriend convinced me to try one.

She went to the kitchen with me alternating between gagging and trying to rationalize trying it (“I can’t even imagine that combination of flavors … but maybe it blends better than I think”) and mixed up a small one in a lowball glass. She took the first sip. “It’s really pretty good,” she said without a trace of sarcasm or tomfoolery.

I took a sip. It was really pretty good. So good I made another one – this time in a big glass – tonight after work. And when I mixed it all together with a spoon, this frothing gyre of chocolatey bubbles, the bubbles began retrograde motion, sliding in micro waves of creamy goodness back toward the bottom of the glass, much as they do in a well-poured glass of stout.

Just about any drink this good (really just imagine chocolate soda if you can, only smoother – not unlike a super chocolate-tasting triple stout, in fact) with the cool retrograde bubble action will get my seal of approval. I used Hershey’s Special Dark syrup and skim milk (surprisingly creamy skim milk though, it’s organic from grass-fed cows) in mine, but I encourage you try it with whatever you have.

I couldn’t have been more skeptical about this drink, but here I am: A convert.