Which Whisky Goes With Chocolate? 5 Pairings

The best whisky for chocolate depends on the chocolate. Soft nutty malts suit milk chocolate, rich sherry or chocolate malt whiskies suit a 70% bar, and a bitter bar of 80% or more with a little salt is what the guides pick for peated Islay. These five pairings come from whisky media and tasting venues, and none is an official brand recommendation.

Key Takeaways

• Match intensity. Strong whiskies need stronger chocolate, and delicate whiskies need milder chocolate, as the ScotchWhisky.com magazine advises.

• Milk chocolate with nuts goes with soft malts, 70% dark chocolate with richer or sherried malts, and 80% or darker with peated whisky.

• Milk chocolate with caramel suits Old Pulteney 12, while ginger chocolate needs a whisky with weight, such as Balvenie DoubleWood 12.

• Taste the whisky on its own first, then let a small piece of chocolate melt before the next sip, a method the Whisky Monkeys guide recommends.

• These are editorial pairings drawn from named sources. Brand tasting notes quoted here belong to the brands, and taste remains personal.

Tip: Taste the lightest pairing first and the peated one last. A smoky dram and a bitter bar can dull your palate for the softer matches, so work from the milk chocolate pairing up to the Ardbeg.

Milk Chocolate With Nuts Suits a Soft Island Malt Like Bunnahabhain 12

Milk chocolate is sweet, creamy and low in bitterness, so it needs a whisky that does not fight it. The Whisky Monkeys guide suggests Bunnahabhain 12 with milk chocolate holding hazelnuts, almonds or pecans, or a hazelnut praline truffle. The Scotch Whisky Experience in Edinburgh takes a different route for the same bottle, matching Bunnahabhain 12 with caramel and sea salt chocolate.

Bunnahabhain 12 Years Old is bottled at 46.3% and is an unpeated Islay malt matured in bourbon and sherry casks, according to the distillery. Bunnahabhain's own notes describe a light palate with fruit and nutty flavours, some sweetness and slight hints of vanilla and caramel, and a long finish with a hint of sea salt. Those nutty and sweet notes are why the match is easy to follow. It suits anyone who likes a sweet pairing but does not want smoke in the glass.

Dark Chocolate Around 70% Meets Coffee and Candied Orange in Glenmorangie Signet

A 70% bar is bitter enough to need a whisky with weight. Two separate sources reach for the same bottle. The Scotch Whisky Experience pairs Glenmorangie Signet with 70% cocoa dark chocolate, with its author calling it "one of the greatest pairings in my opinion." The Whisky Monkeys guide also suggests a 70% bar for Signet, ideally with candied orange, because the bitterness echoes the whisky's coffee and mocha notes.

Glenmorangie Signet is listed at 46% by retailers and is made with a heavily roasted barley known as chocolate malt. The blog TheWhiskyphiles quoted Glenmorangie's notes for an earlier bottling in 2014, with espresso and candied orange peel on the aroma and bitter mocha on the taste. Those are older notes and not the current official wording, but they show why bitter chocolate and this style of whisky share flavours. If Signet is out of reach, the Whisky Monkeys guide names Aberlour A'bunadh with dark chocolate of at least 70% as another option, since strong cocoa holds up to a high strength sherry cask malt.

Milk Chocolate With Caramel Suits a Lightly Salty Malt Like Old Pulteney 12

Caramel and a little salt is a pairing many people already enjoy. The ScotchWhisky.com magazine, in a 2018 article by Matt Evans with chocolatiers from Cocoa Mountain, pairs the maritime malt Old Pulteney 12 with milk chocolate and caramel. Caramel and salt is a familiar pairing, so this match is easy to picture, though the article itself simply names milk chocolate with caramel.

Old Pulteney 12 Years Old is listed at 40% by retailers and is matured mainly in ex bourbon casks. Master of Malt's listing says the bourbon sweetness balances a salty coastal character. Because the strength is gentle, it is a good place to start for anyone new to this kind of tasting. Keep the salt light, since a heavily salted bar can flatten a 40% whisky.

Dark Chocolate With Ginger Needs a Rich Whisky Like Balvenie DoubleWood 12

Ginger adds heat and spice on top of cocoa, and a light whisky would disappear under it. In the same ScotchWhisky.com article, Cocoa Mountain's Paul Maden pairs The Balvenie DoubleWood 12 with dark chocolate and ginger, saying "it takes a whisky such as this to stand up to really strong dark chocolate and powerful ginger." The Scotch Whisky Experience makes a similar match, putting Glenfiddich Solera 15 with an organic 60% cocoa and ginger chocolate.

The Balvenie DoubleWood 12 Years Old is matured in American oak casks and then spends nine months in European oak sherry casks, according to the official Balvenie shop. That page credits the American oak with warming layers of vanilla spiciness and the sherry casks with fruity, honeyed depths. Those warm, spiced notes are what can meet the ginger. For orange instead of ginger, the Whisky Monkeys guide pairs candied orange with Glen Elgin 12 and Glenmorangie Signet, so the Signet bottle above covers that style as well.

Very Dark Chocolate With a Little Salt Holds Up to Peat in Ardbeg Uigeadail

Peat smoke is the hardest flavour to match, and the advice from several sources is to go bitter and intense. The Whisky Monkeys guide pairs Ardbeg Uigeadail with very dark chocolate of about 80% cacao or higher, ideally with sea salt. Its reasoning is that bitter cocoa stands up to heavy smoke while salt emphasises the smoky, maritime edges. The ScotchWhisky.com article offers other routes for peat, suggesting Laphroaig 10 with peppermint chocolate, which the article says softens the medicinal character, intense salted butter caramel chocolate for Lagavulin 16, and smoky, burned milk chocolate for Lagavulin or Ardbeg.

Ardbeg Uigeadail is listed at 54.2% by retailers and is matured in a mix of ex bourbon and ex sherry casks. At that strength a few drops of water can help. Reviewer notes vary and are not official wording, so check Ardbeg's own site for its description. If you want to know what the smoke is before you buy, read What Does Peated Mean in Whisky? first, and Peated vs Unpeated Whisky for the wider comparison.

Tip: Use good chocolate in small pieces, so you can compare several pairings in one evening, and add a few drops of water to the higher strength bottles, as the Whisky Monkeys guide suggests. Leftover Halloween sweets rarely make the best test, because the ScotchWhisky.com article advises against cheap supermarket chocolate. For a related read, see Whisky for Halloween: 10 Bottles with a Dark Side.

FAQ

What whisky goes best with milk chocolate?

Soft, nutty and fruity malts work well. The Whisky Monkeys guide pairs Bunnahabhain 12 with milk chocolate with hazelnuts or pecans, and the ScotchWhisky.com magazine pairs Old Pulteney 12 with milk chocolate and caramel.

Which whisky suits dark chocolate?

For a 70% bar, Glenmorangie Signet is named by both the Scotch Whisky Experience and the Whisky Monkeys guide. Strong cocoa also holds up to a high strength sherry malt such as Aberlour A'bunadh, according to Whisky Monkeys.

Does peated whisky go with chocolate?

It can, if the chocolate is bitter and intense. The guides suggest 80% cacao or higher with sea salt for Ardbeg Uigeadail, or peppermint chocolate for Laphroaig 10.

How should I serve whisky and chocolate together?

Taste the whisky first, then let a small piece of chocolate melt on your tongue and take another sip, noting whether the whisky now tastes sweeter, fruitier or smokier. Start with the lightest pairing and finish with the peated one. Many people find chocolate tastes fuller at room temperature, which is general guidance and not a rule from the sources above.

Is there an official chocolate pairing from Ardbeg or Laphroaig?

This article did not find an official chocolate pairing from Ardbeg, Laphroaig, Glenfiddich or The Macallan. The pairings above come from named third parties, so treat them as suggestions.