When you first see this chocolate in a store, you assume it's some kind of small candy company that hand delivers their chocolates to local stores in the area. Honestly, I rarely buy these kinds of chocolates, not because they're not tasty, but I find them overwhelming. Every little tourist shop in the world has some kind of chocolate like this on the shelves or on the counter, and as is the case with these, there are often about a million varieties to choose from. Old timey candy counters generally just intimidate me. I would have walked right past these if it wasn't for a friend of mine who told me stories of eating these as a kid. Most curious about this story is that she didn't grow up anywhere near where we were. So that basically told me that these aren’t made by a small-time candy company at all.
The thing these had going for them was the fact that my friend really loved them and started filling up her basket. She suggested I pick one up and give it a try. My friends know what a loaded suggestion that can be for me since I will judge people by the candy they choose. Fortunately for this friend, she's still OK in my books. While I assume with the large distribution area (and the fact that it has its own barcode) that these aren't really made in too small a production batch, they certainly taste like they could be. Sure, the disk of chocolate is pretty round, and likely made by either a machine or a very skilled hand, and not in someone's kitchen, it's still got that great small batch flavour.
It seems like a great deal of thought has gone into the choice of chocolate and vanilla used in this chocolate. If I was to get a little nitpicky, I would say the vanilla could have been a little stronger. The disk melted in my mouth and it was a very pleasant experience. With these small batch chocolates, I sometimes tell you where you can find them, but frankly I think if you're in Ontario, and maybe even Canada, just look for a little tourist shop and chances are you'll find them there.