Meiji – Brandy & Orange Peel Chocolate

I’ve done a few of these alcoholic chocolate flavours at this point, and most are honestly pretty decent all things considered. While I do think orange works well with stronger alcohol flavours, I’m neither a big fan of orange peel, nor brandy, so this may be a bit of a challenge for me to get through.

There’s four individually wrapped pieces and each one is a decent size. They feel a bit fragile to the touch, but that’s to be expected. Similar to the other liquor chocolates from Meiji, these are soft and not tempered on the outside so they melt if you aren’t’ careful. The back of the box even mentions keep these below 23 degrees.

This has a strong alcohol taste to it, and reminds me of strong, high proof spirit. Apparently these have around 3.1% alcohol content, so these have a strong alcohol flavour. For some people that might be nice, but again for me I just smell the flavour of alcohol which I associate with burning and short term memory loss. But your mileage may vary. Brandy aside, the orange peel is very distinct and present. The flavour combining with the chocolate reminds me of pretty much every other chocolate orange I’ve ever had. It’s very distinct, very present and if you like the combination you’ll love these. Personally I’m somewhat indifferent, but I do appreciate the festive nature of it.

The texture of this is extremely soft, and very smooth. The outside is melty, and just barely holds together, but the inside is even softer. The chocolate filling is like a cross between ganache and mousse, it’s very melty, and very soft. The inside is like a mousse, and is very smooth and melts on your tongue. While I feel the chocolate is originally closer to a ganache, something about the addition of alcohol makes it feel smoother, and more like a mousse. The raisins inside provide a very soft bite, but they have been likely soaking in rum so it ends up not being very chewy and more a slight gummy like consistency. I guess it makes sense why the box says to store at 23 degrees. Any higher and it would likely melt into a puddle. The little orange pieces are quite small but add a nice chewy dried fruit texture to an otherwise very smooth, melty experience. Some may find that off putting, but I think the contrasting textures works here.

While I am not a brandy connoisseur, even I can appreciate that this flavour works and Meiji has done a solid execution here. I’d say if you are at all interested in boozy chocolates, gives this a try. It’s well worth your time.