Tirol Chocolate – Shine Muscat

Out of all the fruits that I think pair well with chocolate as a flavour, grape is one of the bottom ones. Well, ok that’s not entirely true – it’s just that when I try to picture grapes and chocolate together my mind defaults to raisins, and chocolate covered raisins. Also not a combination I’m particularly fond of, but still not as crazy to me as a chocolate covered grape. That’s just weird.

As always, got to love the packaging. If nothing else, I can add another cute wrapper to my ever growing collection. I’m pretty sure at this point, part of the draw of Tirol is just collecting wrappers and trying new flavours when I can find them, whether I like them or not.

It’s eerie how similar to muscat grapes this smells like. It’s a little concerning, really. I know one of the things we look for is how similar to the inspiration a flavour should be, but when it’s too close it makes you wonder, has science gone too far? Did we spend too much time asking if we could, and not enough deliberating on if we should? I am but a small man, but I hope to answer these questions and more by trying these out.

More concerning is how it tastes just like it too. The piece has muscat flavoured chocolate, containing a small gummy piece inside along with some grape puree or jelly on the top to really nail the muscat flavour home. Honestly not sure how to feel about chocolate that tastes so similar to what I expect out of grape, but it’s definitely a bit uncanny. The only real indication you’re not eating grape turned into the shape and consistency of chocolate is the slight after taste you get. Unlike an actual grape that has a clean refreshing finish, this one has a bit more of a sweet, almost cloying finish that ends up a bit bitter.

So I’m a little torn on this – on the one hand, it’s exactly what I was expecting and it delivered on it. I was expecting a grape flavoured chocolate, and it gave me exactly that, and maybe even more. On the other hand, I’m not sure I actually wanted this, and it’s so close to it I’m having a little bit of cognitive dissonance and wondering if it’s gone too far. While I wouldn’t get this again for myself, I would love to get it again to share with people just to see how they would react. It’s definitely an experience, if nothing else.