Those heart-shaped boxes filled with mystery cremes are delightful, but this year, we’re leaning into the kind of chocolate treat that resembles a nightcap. When a botanical gin or a barrel-aged bourbon is folded into velvety ganache made from high-quality chocolate, you get a tipsy-tasting dessert that feels like a distilled bite of luxury. Enjoy your favorite spirit in a single, decadent, melt-in-your-mouth moment (and get one for your Valentine, too).
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
Whiskey Barrel Dark Chocolate bar from French Broad Chocolate
Aging sustainably sourced cacao in barrels from Asheville, North Carolina’s Two Trees Distilling adds vanilla, oak and a hint of smoke flavors to French Broad Chocolate’s Whiskey Barrel Dark Chocolate bar. The mild dark chocolate and malt whiskey notes are finished with smoked salt to enhance the delicious experience.
$12 for a 2.1-ounce bar. Frenchbroadchocolate.com.
Credit: Angela Hansberger
Credit: Angela Hansberger
Castle & Key Dark Chocolate Gin & Tonic bar from Bissinger’s
Hidden in a square of Bissinger’s Gin & Tonic bar is a liquid center resembling the botanicals in gin and tonic. The European chocolate may not have the bubbles, but it has all the floral sweetness of Castle & Key’s Roots of Ruin Gin. And the packaging is lovely. Pro tip: Check out Bissinger’s cocktail truffle assortment and Espresso Martini Truffles.
$8 for a 3-ounce bar. Bissingers.com.
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
Pink Marc de Champagne truffles from House of Dorchester
Perfect to add to — or in place of — a bottle of bubbly, House of Dorchester truffles have a pink center made from strawberries and Marc de Champagne, a French brandy made from Champagne grapes. Icing sugar coats the outside of each tiny treat, which comes packaged in a tiny pink gift bag.
Available now in local Barnes & Noble stores for $10.99 for 1.58 ounces. barnesandnoble.com.
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
Port Charlotte Scottish Barley Nama chocolates from Royce
Nama is a fresh Japanese ganache-style chocolate with a soft, melt-in-your-mouth texture and a dusting of cocoa powder. Royce’s Port Charlotte infuses a wee bit of Scotch whisky into velvety fresh cream and chocolate for an Islay experience that leaves a hint of smoke with the silky milk chocolate.
$23.99 for 20 pieces. 10820 Abbotts Bridge Road, Johns Creek. 470-359-6276, roycechocolate.com.
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
Woodford Reserve Double Oaked Dark Chocolate Old Fashioned bar from Compartés
Master Distiller Elizabeth McCall and chocolatier Jonathan Grahm partnered to make this homage to the classic old-fashioned cocktail in chocolate form. Infused with Woodford Reserve Double Oaked Bourbon, the limited-edition chocolate bar combines flavors of rich butterscotch, caramel, vanilla and a hint of orange in one decadent confection.
Available for $9.95 for 3 ounces at the Woodford Reserve distillery and shipped nationwide. shop.woodfordreserve.com/compartes-chocolate-bar.
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
Red Wine bar from Zotter Chocolate
Zotter turns red wine (Olivin from Austrian winemaker Winkler-Hermaden) into a rich ganache, then covers it in Austrian 70% dark chocolate. The red wine flavors are so pronounced that you taste the boldness of the Blauer Zweigelt grapes grown in volcanic soil. Also delicious: Port Wine and Fig bar (shown here) made with Portuguese Reserve Ruby Port.
$11.79 per bar, zotterusa.com.
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
Bourbon Cask-Aged Chocolate bar from Raaka
Raaka uses unroasted beans in their chocolates to extract brighter and fruitier flavor notes from their single-origin cacao. The organic cacao from Tanzania in this bar is aged in bourbon casks for a couple of months, which infuses smooth and oaky undertones into the 82% cacao chocolate.
$8 for 1.8 ounces. Available at local Whole Foods Markets and Raakachocolate.com.
Yo-ho-ho Caribbean Dark Rum Dark Chocolate truffles from Cocopotamus
For your Valentine pirate, consider Yo-ho-ho truffles: handmade artisanal dark chocolate fudge infused with Caribbean dark rum from Martinique. The hand-dipped chocolate balls are painted with edible glitter and topped with sprinkles of Hawaiian turbinado sugar crystals.
$13.50 per 5-piece box. cocopotamus.com.
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
Barrel-Aged Dark Whiskey & Chocolate bar from Xocolatl
Cacao nibs soaked in whiskey, then aged in barrels, make this chocolate bar a bourbon lover’s dream. We can thank the collaboration efforts of two local companies: The bar’s only ingredients are Duality Double Malt Whiskey from ASW and Xocolatl’s Ugandan cacao, organic cane sugar and cacao butter. It has rich, layered notes and a hint of smoke.
$14 for 2.6 ounces. Xocolatlchocolate.com.
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