Chocolate and bourbon
Sweeter and more vanilla-forward than Scotch, thanks to new charred oak. It suits milk chocolate better than almost any other spirit.
Bourbon is aged in new charred oak, which gives it far more vanilla and caramel than a Scotch matured in a refill cask. Combined with the corn-derived sweetness of the spirit itself, that makes it unusually compatible with milk chocolate.
With dark chocolate it works too, but the interesting pairing is the milk one — bourbon's vanilla and milk chocolate's dairy caramel occupy the same register without either having anything sharp to clash with.
The principle
New oak means vanilla and caramel. Match those rather than contrasting them, and dilute the spirit slightly.
Pairings
New-oak vanilla and milk chocolate's dairy caramel sit on the same register with nothing sharp on either side.
For example: a wheated bourbon with a caramel-forward 40% milk bar
Bourbon's sweetness offsets dark chocolate's bitterness, and its rye spice adds a dimension the chocolate does not have.
For example: a high-rye bourbon with a 70% dark
Serving
A few drops of water. At cask strength the alcohol anaesthetises the palate and the chocolate registers as texture only.
Related
Covered in
- Chocolate and spiritsThe best milk chocolate spirit pairing.
Chocolate types this pairs with
- Milk chocolateNew-oak vanilla and milk chocolate's dairy caramel sit on the same register with nothing sharp on either side.
- Dark chocolateBourbon's sweetness offsets dark chocolate's bitterness, and its rye spice adds a dimension the chocolate does not have.
Sources
- ChocolateHQ editorial synthesis — ChocolateHQ(citation identity confirmed; passage not re-read)