Woodford Reserve has partnered with Los Angeles-based chocolatier Compartés to make a limited-edition chocolate and whiskey collection. The new release calls back to whiskey’s origins as a digestif, meant to be sipped after a meal and paired with something sweet—in this case, combining them. The collection arrives just in time for everyone’s favorite chocolate-indulgent holiday, Valentine’s Day.
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Woodford Reserve master distiller Elizabeth McCall teamed up with Compartés chocolatier Jonathan Grahm to create the collection, which pairs with the whiskey maker’s Double Oaked Bourbon. This whiskey goes through a second maturation in heavily toasted, lightly charred barrels to lend additional soft, sweet oaky characteristics.
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McCall calls Grahm “a true genius and artist,” celebrating his ability to bring together flavors that work perfectly with one another. “The tasting notes of wood, spice, and florals found in the chocolates align perfectly with the flavors found in Woodford Reserve Double Oaked,” she says.
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The four truffles found in the collection accentuate specific characteristics of Woodford Reserve’s Double Oaked whiskey.
The butterscotch chocolate complements the whiskey’s sweet aromatic notes, accentuating flavors of butterscotch and roasted coffee, making the chocolate taste like chocolate-covered espresso beans.
The pear nutmeg piece highlights the bourbon’s fruit, floral, and spice flavors, bringing out sharp cedar, pepper spice, and dark raisin characteristics.
The smoked salt found in the oak-smoked salt caramel square combines with the wood, spice, and sweet aromatic flavors of Double Oaked to make the mouth water and deliver notes of herbal tea and tobacco, along with a dry cocoa finish.
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Finally, the maple pecan chocolate complements the whiskey’s grain, wood, and sweet aromatic character, highlighting brown sugar, pecan, and maple notes.
“The flavors in bourbon are so complementary to the flavors in chocolate, so partnering with Woodford Reserve was a perfect match,” said Grahm. “ I don’t think there’s another bourbon and chocolate pairing that is truly as perfect and in sync as Double Oaked and the chocolate truffles we’ve created.”
The limited-edition includes a 750ml of Woodford Reserve Double Oaked and a four-piece chocolate box.
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