Chocolate of the Day
Charbonnel et Walker
Sipsmith Gin Truffles
Good + - Good ++
Weight: .812 oz. (23 g.) / 3.85 oz. (110 g.) in total container
Calories: 130 calories in 2 truffles
Cost: $29.95 (+ shipping) for 1 box of 8 truffles
Purchased from: Bloomingdales, online order
Welcome to Day #3 of Chocolate and Gin Theme Week.
Today's Sipsmith Gin Truffles were made in the UK* for Charbonnel et Walker (London). ("By Appointment to Her Majesty The Queen, Chocolate Manufacturers, Charbonnel et Walker Ltd., London.") The company is well-known for their truffles, e.g. Pink Marc de Champagne truffles (with brandy and strawberry flavors).
The Sipsmith Gin used in today's truffles comes from a distillery in London that has been operating for almost 200 years.
Aroma notes for these truffles included: slightly boozy, sweet chocolate with faint, juniper, vanilla, faint sweet green floral/herbal, and very faint, fleeting black peppercorn.
Texture: Smooth dark chocolate surrounded a creamy, gin-infused white chocolate ganache (center).
This complementary blend of dark and white chocolate flavors matched the aroma notes above, and included: smooth dark chocolate, gin, juniper, creamy vanilla. The spirits/gin lingered into the finish but was not too strong.
These luxurious, and somewhat addictive truffles were sweet, but balanced. The dark chocolate and the gin off-set the sweetness.
Ingredients: Bittersweet chocolate (unsweetened chocolate, sugar, cocoa fat, soy lecithin), white chocolate (sugar, cocoa fat, dry whole milk, soy lecithin, natural vanilla flavoring), salted butter (milk), Sipsmith Gin (R), powdered sugar, natural juniper flavoring. (Bittersweet chocolate contains cocoa solids 70% minimum.)
Allergen-related information: Contains milk and soy. May contain tree nuts and wheat.
*More than 1,700 different gins are produced in the UK. So I wanted to feature at least one British gin-inspired chocolate this week.
Gin-flavored chocolates this week hail from the UK, Norway, Spain, Germany, Scotland, Canada and Italy. No gin chocolates from the U.S. (This may also have to do with U.S. rules that apply to selling alcohol in chocolates.) I did pair two chocolates with local (California) botanical gins.
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