February 9th: Lindt Irish Coffee

Kcal ??? Fat ??? Fat(sats) ??? Carbs ???

Whittards turned provider once again for todays bar, at the bargain price of 40p!! As my regular readers will know I am not the biggest of drinkers, but I must say I am always rather partial to an Irish Coffee to finish off a nice meal. I didn't know quite what to expect from this bar, the description on the pack stated 'milk chocolate with a whisky and coffee liquid filling', though I wasn't sure whether this filling was going to be creme like, or pure liqueur. I guess I should have taken a hint from the rather large '7% whisky' in the ingredients, but in my haste I didn't bother looking.

The bar came in the same 100.0g, pod-like form as the Lindt Christmas Punch. I had mixed feelings about the presentation of the product. I was very impressed with the layout and fonts etc of the wrapper, but as already stated I was a little disappointed at the lack of indication of what type of filling was included. That said, the pod format itself was once again aesthetically pleasing, and looked very detailed with the Lindt logo cleanly displayed on each piece. I was quite impressed by the smell of the product, which became evident as soon as I opened the foil layer. A pleasant synergy of dairy, coffee scents were very forthcoming and really enlightened my senses for what was to come.

For me personally this was a bar that really struck me down the middle. I really enjoyed the chocolate constituents of the product - it was absolutely fabulous. The milk chocolate had a fantastically paced melt, that was terrifically smooth and thick. The taste was just as immersive, with strong creamy, slightly coffee tinted flavours that grew wonderfully in their intensity as the melt progressed. This was all wonderful up until the chocolate melted to the point where the centre was exposed. Unfortunately it wasn't the creme truffle like centre I was hoping for, but more of a straight liqueur one. It was almost as if the pods contained a shot of whisky - it was short, sharp and extremely strong in its alcoholic malty flavours ... I am no whisky connoisseur but this wasn't good stuff. As the whisky 'shot' didn't last long in its presence, the creamy flavours of the milk chocolate were the ones left lingering in the mouth, but a slight aftertaste of whisky was ever present.

Overall this was a hard bar to rate, as I guess it is solely down to personal preference. Personally I wasn't a fan of the whisky content - it was too strong, and just a bit of a shock to the system with its striking alcoholic flavours. If it were up to me I would have had a creamy, milk filling, with a hint of whisky to just give it a small indicative edge to taste; I think this would have been the best way to compliment the truly wonderful milky, coffee flavours of the chocolate. I probably wouldn't have this bar again in the near future, but I am sure a number of you will definitely get some pleasure from this unique Lindt offering. 

7.4 out of 10