Chocolate, Wine and Whiskey Festival

The official website for the festival promised chocolate “in a multitude of decadent presentations – from sweet hand-rolled truffles to oooey goooey melted chocolate fondue and an amazing selection of bean-to-bar artisan chocolates” and, unlike other chocolate festivals I have attended, it delivered what it promised.  While chocolate took centre stage at the event, held at the Brooklyn Expo Centre, festival goers were able to indulge in unlimited wine and whiskey tastings too. 

The ticket price included:  chocolate samples, a tasting glass for unlimited tastings of premium wines and whiskies, a chocolate fondue bar and an array of sweet and savory items to purchase.  The vendors were generous with their samples and there was no pressure to purchase anything that you sampled.  The space was well-laid out and the organizers had an efficient system of getting everyone inside as quickly as possible – again, unlike other events I have attended which involved standing in a line, in the cold, long after the doors were supposed to open.  A special shout out to the awesome DJ who was spot-on with his choice of music for the event and had some people, assisted by the copious wine samples, getting into the groove.

My highlights included:

·        Handcrafted truffles from Twizzles Tasty Treats – not only did they taste delicious, with flavours such as coconut, peppermint, salted caramel and white raspberry, they also looked pretty.

·         Chocolate pie from Petee’s Café, based in Brooklyn – it’s easy to see why New York Magazine called their pies the absolute best in NYC.

·         Cookies from Bang Cookies – besides being amused by the name, these giant organic and natural cookies were a winner (particularly the sea salt chocolate chunk with its doughy centre)

·         Winosaurs from Saucy Confections – yep, you read that correctly…these gummy candy made with real wine in dinosaur shapes were addictive and I couldn’t resist grabbing several samples of the bellini and sangria gummies.

·         The chocolate fondue fountain – needless to say, this was a popular station, with several choices of sweet goodies to dip into the cascading chocolate, including rice krispie treats, marshmallows, pound cake, pretzels and fresh fruit.