In the lead up to Easter, we’ve been matching some of our favourite drinks with chocolate, where each benefits the other. This is no mean feat. The decision on the type of drink, and which expression of that type, has stimulated much discussion. We eventually came to an agreement and think you’ll find these chocolate and drink matches as delicious as we do.
White Chocolate – Milky bar eggs - Moscato d’Asti
White chocolate can be stickily sweet and there is only so much one can consume in one sitting. But we have found a way to eat more of it! White wine has great acidity which can cut through the fat and sweetness that’s delicious in white chocolate. Alongside the chocolate, the wine creates lots of fresh flavours like apricots, honey and citrus. With everything in balance, you can chomp your way through a few more bars.
ABV: 5.5%%
Size: 750ml
Buy the wine now for £8.95
Buy the chocolate for £6.99
Milky – Maltesers truffles - Old Pulteney 12 year old
Maltesers truffles are a guilty secret for all The Three Drinkers, and so is the whisky which goes with them extremely well. Old Pulteney 12 year old has a salinity that counterbalances all that lovely honeycomb. With lots of complexity, it keeps the palate clean, lively and ready to take on more chocolate!
ABV: 40%
Size: 700ml
Buy the whisky now for £27.50
Buy the chocolates now for £8.99
50% Cocoa – Cadbury’s dairy milk egg - Aberfeldy 12 year old
There are so many whiskies that match well with dairy milk chocolate, so we had to think long and hard about which one to suggest. We needed a whisky that wouldn’t take over from the milky chocolate, but would still be characterful enough to keep the Drinkers happy. The whisky that we all agreed did this job the best was Aberfeldy 12 year old; a super-fruity and easy going whisky, it can also be matched with fruit and nut milk chocolate.
ABV: 40%
Size: 700ml
Buy the whisky here for £32.90
Buy the chocolate here for £18.99
70% Cocoa – Port - Callebaut dark chocolate
With the bitterness of dark chocolate, we feel there needs to be a little sweetness in the drink to best match it, but the drink also needs lots of flavour to balance and acidity to keep the palate fresh. Port did the trick. Select Vintage or Late Bottled Vintage in preference to a tawny port. Our favourite was Warre’s Late Bottled Vintage 2007.
ABV: 20%
Size: 750ml
Buy the port now for £27.95
Buy the chocolate now for £27.75
All rounder – Quality Street - Amarone
When The Three Drinkers think of holiday chocolate, Quality Street always comes to mind: a smorgasbord of milk and dark chocolate, nuts, soft fillings and fudge. That’s quite a mix for any drink to contend with! A wine with some sweetness, lots of fruit and acidity would be needed, so look for a ‘ripasso’ style of red wine, with big red/dark fruit balance and plenty of acidity. We particularly like Riondo Amarone della Valpolicella 2015 for a great value Amarone. A treat wine, it punches well above its price tag and certainly deserves the biggest tin of chocolates.
ABV: 15%
Size: 750ml
Buy the wine now for £22.95
Buy the chocolate now for £17.98
Mint Chocolate – After Eights – Mezcal
Mint chocolates are more difficult to match with alcohol. However, most smoky spirits do work, like smoky whisky. One drink that works particularly well however, is Mezcal, with its smokiness and fruity agave flavour. Our favourite Mezcal at the moment is San Cosme which pairs well with After Eights.
ABV: 40%
Size: 700ml
Buy the Mezcal now for £39.13
Buy the chocolate now for £4.73
Chocolate Orange - Sauternes
An all-time great chocolate needs an all-time great drink to pair with it. We love sauternes, with its honey, apricot and marmalade flavours that mix well with the orange. It’s a match made in heaven as its acidity cuts through the chocolate. We obviously would love to eat chocolate orange all day whilst quaffing Chateau d’Yquem, but all sauternes goes well and at a more reasonable price, we like Sichel’s version.
ABV: 14%
Size: 750ml
Buy the Sauternes now for £15.39
Buy the chocolate now for £29
100% Cocoa - Cognac
At the top end of fine and healthy chocolate is 100% cocoa. With its refined, bittersweet yet unctuous flavours, you don’t need much of it. The same can be said of cognac. Younger cognac will pair well, but for the full experience, a good, aged cognac like Frapin XO will knock your socks off!
ABV: 64%
Size: 730ml
Buy the cognac now for £155
Buy the chocolate now for £13.50