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For those that haven't heard of Lily O'Briens before, I can tell you that they are Irish based company formed in 1992 by none other than Lily O'Brien (funny that!). On their website they claim to offer 'a mouth-watering repertoire of delicious chocolates using the finest ingredients'. Back in 2008, under the recommendation of some of my readers I took a look at some of their chocolate bar offerings, which managed to score around the average mark of 7.6 out of 10 on the ChocolateMission rating scale (See HERE). Although those bars hardly set the world alight, Lucy claimed that these were some 'of the best truffles ever' - who was I to turn down some free chocolates :D
As you can see below both types of truffles came in similar looking packaging that consisted of an outer cardboard box with an inner plastic tray containing the separate pieces. In regards to the quality of the presentation I have to give a thumbs up to both of the variants. Lily O'Briens did a great job making the exterior box look like it was made for a premium brand with all the smart looking golden fonts and tempting looking photos. What impressed me majorly about both types of chocolates was the fact that the actual chocolates looked exactly like they did in the aforementioned photographs - I tried recreating the effect as best I could myself.
Below are my brief thoughts on each of the flavours.
Lily O'Briens Irish Cream Truffles
'A white chocolate truffle laced with Irish Cream and smothered in milk chocolate'There was absolutely no chance of me trying these Irish Cream flavoured truffles without giving my sister the chance to give cast her valued second opinion (she adores Baileys!). Luckily for me this was no real issue, as the chocolates came in a 100.0g box that contained a more than plentiful 8 truffles. In terms of aromas the chocolates were immediately impressive, emanating a nice set of boozie, dairy scents that wafted from the tray as soon as I released the box seal.
Placing the first truffle in my mouth (my gob was just about big enough to handle the large size!), the first set of flavours to greet me palette were rather underwhelming. Indeed the milk chocolate was just as I remembered it, with it's smooth, yet uneventful sweet milky taste. Thankfully much better things can be said of the truffle filling, which was simply delightful in every which way. Initially it brought an added dose of cream based white chocolate flavours, though it wasn't long before a little note of Irish whiskey came to the party bringing with it a modest boozie kick and pleasant warming sensation. More often than not, alcohol filled truffles came hide startling boozie kicks that take over the taste, but what both my sister and I really loved about these truffles was the fact that the flavour progression felt so natural and the smooth tasting. We both really enjoyed these and would both recommend them to all Irish Cream lovers.
8.0 out of 10
Lily O'Briens Champagne Truffles
'A white chocolate truffle with 'Marc De Champagne', smothered in milk chocolate with a dark chocolate swirl'.As much as these looked very appealing they were always going to be facing the tough comparartor of the Hotel Chocolat Champagne Truffles I reviewed back in December 2008 (See HERE). Those Hotel Chocolat truffles are a long time favourite of my mother, so like I did with my sister for the above Irish Cream chocolates, I employed her services when it came to the taste testing. Again this was no problem given the 100.0g eight truffle format.
Upon removing the cardboard lid and surrounding packaging layers I was met with some more subdued chocolatey aromas compared to the boozier Irish Cream scents. Just as I described above, the exterior milk chocolate layer played a very similar role, and it again wasn't until the revelation of the inner champagne filling that the taste really came to life. Like the Irish Cream truffles, the first flavours established by the centres were cream based with the alcoholic influence shortly following during the mid stages of pleasant feeling soft melt. Our thoughts on the champagne element were that it was well integrated in to the filling, though the slightly sourer bozzieness lacked the charm of the Irish Cream which we thought worked a little better and more naturally with the overall taste. Whilst these weren't in the same class as the Hotel Chocolate Champagne Truffles I would still say they are at least worth consideration given their cheaper price and overall fair quality.
7.5 out of 10
Thanks again to Lucy for sending me both of these products.
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66 comments:
Whatever was preceeding the hotel chocolat monday was always going to look a little underwhelming this week lol. These don't look half bad but there are a few companies that come to mind before Lily obriens. I'm not sure I've even tried any of their chocs before. Knowing me I probably havr and have just forgotton about it.
Are Lily O'Briens big in Ireland? You never see any of their chocolates here in England. It's pretty mental you can be massive in one country and then not in your neighbouring one. You are doing something wrong if thats the case.
No bits and bobs again? What is this! You don't listen to your readers at all do you.
The chocs look good in the photos but your write up of them suggests they aren't anything too special. I think I would be tempted to try the Irish cream but the champagne ones I don't think I would be too fussed about.
If we were handing out ratings for your photos I would be giving these some pretty high marks. It must be a right ol pain in the butt getting them photod like that. Having them all looking consistent with one another must require you to have some sort of studio set up yah?
I'm not experienced at all with Lily O'Briens but the one thing I will say about them is that they must have done well to stick around in these times of economic turmoil.
People outside of Ireland don't understand quite how bad things are with the economy in Ireland. It can't be easy being a premium chocolate brand in times when people are scrimping and scrounging around for every cent. Fingers crossed I'm not pre-empting anything here. For all we know we could get the announcement of their closure tomorrow. It wouldn't surprise me.
I got v excited when I saw the headline of these today. I always love hearing about any irish coffee truffs they are particular fave of mine. Nothing beats a big glass of Baileys with a bag of Maltesers. Nom nom nom.
If you are looking for Lily O'brien future suggestions I think just a quick review of their classic collection would be a gr8 place to begin. I always think it's worth checking out their basic line up before branching out in to anything else. From what I've read you will have done that already because you did their sticky toffee chocs first, if your keeping to that philosophy the next logical thing would be the classic collection they have.
Lily O'Bs hardly proved themselves to be the pride of Ireland here huh!? If you are buying chocs from Ireland I would stick with their Dairy Milk. It's as thick and creamy as glue. Love it.
I've heard that these peeps make some pretty special Sticky Toffee truffles.
Lol anything that comes in to that category now is just going pale in comparison to the hotel chocolat caramels. It would be interesting to see how they stack up, though pls don't take this like I'm saying they are going to be better.
Haagen Daaz Baileys ice cream is the best EVER!!!!!!!
We need ice cream reviews man. Seeing any ben and jerries ones would be aweosme. Chunky Munky FTW my friend.
I've got a little predicatable with my gifts recently. I almost always give people lindors or just basic celebrations chocolaes when I need to make a small gestue to someone. It's nice seeing some different alternatives that I might to want think about now. Thanks Jim.
My ma loves all types of champagne truffles so I'm sure she would appreciate these. Because there are so many alternatives and you say these aren't anything special I doubt I will buy them purposely, its still nice to know they would do a job in a way if I did have a situation when they were an option. Thank you for another wicked review. Youre on fire this week.
It seems silly talking about chocolate in times like these but the show must go like they say.
These are some more cool reviews today Jim.
I normally don't like commenting on products I haven't got around to trying but I can't contain my excitement looking at those Irish Creme flavoured ones. Surely if you love irish creme they have to be amazing. The chocolate sounds gd and you were hardly disparraging about the quality of the truffle bit. If you are a Bailey's superfan you got to think these might be well worthy of a tryout.
I got to try some chocolates made by an Irish brand named Butlers last weekend at a wedding. They were just random vanilla white choc ones which I know don't sound too exciting but they weren't bad at all. They were good enough to make me consider buying a big pack of them if the price is right.
What a throwback :) Lily and co haven't been on Chocolate Mission for years. They've been a wee bit quiet but it's nice to see them back and still around.
Lily OBriens is actually a really nice company that used to be run by a mother and daughter. They are a bit bigger now so their operations look more like a big cheese company. From what I've read about them though they are still a young company under 10 yrs old I think. They must be doing something right if they can survive the situation in Ireland.
I did a search and only Waitrose (occado) were the only outlet that sold any Lily O'Briens chocs.
What they did have mind you was a very cool looking Desserts Collection http://www.mysupermarket.co.uk/Images/ExternalImages/ProductsDetailed/72/051072.jpg?ts=634152660547 That looks pretty ace to me. It would be awesome seeing a review Jim.
Lily o'Briens is a brand I have seen plenty of times before but never bought in to. I don't have anything against them particulary, its just that I often see other things that appeal to me more.
If anyone is wondering it's waitrose I always see them in. They have such a good range of chocolates these days you get all the upper market ones there now.
Hey J
I see you guys still haven't done the deal for Sneijder :) You getting nervous m8? You need to do it or your stuffed I think. I love how we are getting rid of all of the rubbish we have on the quiet. We are selling off all our duffers now. I just hope we can use some of the funds to pay for one last defender to come in.
Cool review here mate. My mum once brought back some chocolates made by these people which she got given at work. It was just a box of random choc truffles and I remember them being ok. Sorry that isn't too perscriptive but all I remember is that they weren't too good or too bad. I think like every chocolate box they had good ones and bad ones.
Cheers
N
Great review + pics Jimbo. Standards are going up and up. You keep outdoing yourself mate.
I never get why companies make chocolate of single flavours.
If you don't like champagne or irish cream you aren't going to appeal to anyone with these. Talk about narrowing down your audience. Not ideal for a small company I wouldn't of thought.
Mmmmmmm I want to lick out those lovely truffle bits =P xoxox
If anyone is looking for a place to buy LOBs I'm pretty sure that Wilkinsons stock some of their chocolates on occasion. They are so random as to what stock they have in and what they don't but I have often seen some of their chocolate boxes on sale there and of course with it being wilko the prices aint half bad.
So when your not having companies sending you chocolate you have your readers buying it for you. Lol this whole setup is mental. You have it so made.
Hey hun. Nice reviews of these today. The baileys flavoured are ones I would like to try some time but I'm not too bothered about the champagne because I already have firm faves when it comes to them (hotel choc all the way). Still, like a load of people have already said there isn't anything you have said that would make me not try them. I'm sure they are nice enough.
Rxxx
I don't want to be mean but everytime I see lily obriens they just remind me of the hundreds and hundreds of boxed chocolates that my tesco had to literally give away last Christmas. Perhaps they over ordered or something? Unfortunately for them I think it's more likely that no one wanted to buy them lol. It's not a brand or make that appeals to me all that much. They come across as old fashioned I think.
Speaking as the biggest Bailey's fan EVER (lol I dabble in a little Doolies too lol) I'm still yet to find the holy grail of irish cream truffles. I've tried a fair few dozen in my time (understatement of the year) though I wouldn't say any have stood our from the rest as being significantly better than any others. Probs the best so far are these ones that Thorntons once did but the fools stopped making them.
I used to buy this hazelnut crunch LOB chocolate all the time when I was a little smaller and used to think it was dead posh. Lol the naivety of youth hey :-) Now when I look at their pakaging and stuff I think it's one of the cheaper looking brands I come across now. I think it's just the choice of colours. For some reason It reminds me of the uniform they used to make them work in at Ryanair lol.
The Lily obriens I've tried have never been bad but they haven't ever been anything special either. I think they would be like the Irish equivalent of Green & Blacks if we put things in perspective. They are a little more expensive than your average and probably made with a little better quality ingredients. Meh, I wouldn't turn a box of their chocs down put it that way.
They certainly didn't cut corners making these look nice. Kudos to them for making them look like they do on the packet also. It's one of my real annoyances these days when you buy foods that look absolutely shite compared to the way they get presented on the front of the pack. I've seen some cool websites that are solely based on looking at this sort of thing. It's interesting to see how companies claim their food can look like something and actually how reality is.
Jim have your reviewed the official Bailey's chocolate bar yet? It started appearing in my Tesco supermarket about a year or so ago.
I haven't got around to trying it myself yet though it's hardly like it's that expensive so one day soon I might take the plunge.
I used to classify these guys has uber posh chocolate but now I dont percieve them as anything that special.
They haven't gone down in my eyes or anything, its more the point that other people have impressed me more.
You are all going to think I'm a total dummy for admitting this but I had no idea these people were from Ireland :-) I know I should have put 2+2 together from the name but I just presumed they were a local english company. Whatever Its good to see them get a look in on a site like this, they deserve it for being around so long.
I saw your tweet about the london riots Jim. I couldn't agree more. Our country should be ashamed of itself. Its so sad.
The presentation score might be a little off here because they recently changed it if you look at the things on their site.
http://www.lilyobriens.ie/Chocolate_Mint_Cremes.aspx
If you look at the style of the mint cremes one in that link I think you would have a hard time arguing they haven't improved things. They look a lot more classy imo.
These guys are still making chocolate?
Why have they stopped selling in the UK you never see them anymore! They used to have a pretty big range of bars in sainsburys but they don't have a single one anymore. It's a right shame, I used to enjoy their chocolate with the toffee in the mid. Jim will murder me for saying this but I personally thought it was better than cadburys.
Yays. Its good to see you didn't think these were too bad. I bought a box of the Irish ones for my old teacher as a leaving present and I had no idea if they were nice or not. Lol I hope she enjoyed them. She got given lots and lots of chocs that day the lucky thing.
I think it's cool that they have tried making some unconventional flavours as apposed to all the boring normal ones. i've tried their famous sticky toffee truffles and I can recommend them as a none to expensive option thats different from the normal set of people you could choose. They wont set your world on fire but if they are going cheap I would say buy them.
I wish you had thought a bit more of these because I love what they are offering.
Tell me someone who doesn't love a glass of champers lol. Bailey's is also a favourite drink of mine. Considering you aren't a big drinker (you've said that before) do you think there is a chance these are a bit better than you have rated?
Hotel Chocolat > Lily O'Briens x10
I remember they used to sell LoBs in Debenhamns when I used to work there. They never did shift that many boxes of chocolates mind. It wasn't one of the stands that needed restocking very often. Lol not like the lindor one. That used to get pillaged daily.
Sorry for going off topic J but I found some of those new Cadburys Mascots today in Morrisons. Lol JIm be prepared to be disappointed mate. They are just cadbury chocolate in the shape of the two characters. I hope no one was expecting anything more than that.
Any champagne truffles you want to throw at me I would happily test for you Jim. Theres something about champagne truffles that I go head over heels for. The only bad ones I've had was these ones that said they were champagne flavoured but were actually just sour and had sherbet in them to try and create a fizzy effect. Boy those blew.
I'm afraid this reviews done little to excite me about lily o briens. I always see their chocolates for sale in co-op but I think co-op see them as their 'posh' chocolates so they are always mightly expensive which is off putting.
I think these are the perfect example of the sort of chocolates I wouldn't ever go out my way to buy but would feel comfortable being given or buying at the spur of the moment. They look to me like they are posher than your average mass produced chocolate but not a threat to the likes of hotel chocolat or artisan du chocolate. I think they are a nice middleground if anything.
Is this an old review or something? They don't have either of these listed on their website anymore. It will be a right ols shame if they don't do the irish brandt ones. I would love to try an irish cream chocolate from a proper irish based band.
Am I correct in thinking you live in London Jim? I hope you aren't being effected by all that rioting sillyness.
Are you ok?
Theres a chance i imagined this but I swear I once read an article you posted up saying these guys were out of business? It would surprise me given the economic environment in Ireland.
Roughly how much would a packet like this cost Jim? If they are the same as like thorntons I think they could be a nice alternative.
They look nice in your pictures anyway. The fillings look yummy thats for sure.
did both of the chocolates you wrote about today have to have alcohol in them? Its a bit of a boring one for me becaise I don't drink. Nothing to tempt even a little bit.
Hi All,
Thanks for the feedback. I thought we might see a bit of a lull after the excitement of Monday with Hotel Chocolat's impressive caramels but seemingly not.
Anyone wondering why it has taken a reader gift to get Lily O'Brien back on the site will want to take note of some of the comments coming from people saying that they have seen LOB disappearing from their supermarket shelves. Indeed this has also been the case for me. They used to have strong distribution in Sainsburys but I understand they got taken out in one of the latest range reviews.
As ever I'm up against the clock but thanks for all the feedback again today. I might contact LOB to see if they are keen sending any of your requests across. Some of the sound pretty cool.
LEE - No idea I'm afraid chap. Lets hope one of the Irish readers can give us some clarity on this.
ANON - Bits&Bobs will come Friday keep your pants on :D
PATTRA - No studio, just a basic setup really. I will take the time one day to show you all the review process.
KIM - I think thats a very good point. I deal with Irish colleagues on a day-to-day basis so am fully aware how hard trading is out there at the moment. Any company that survives the current climate should be in there for the long haul.
WADE - Request noted - classic collection.
GAZ - Request noted - Desserts Collection
NIGEL - I'm looking forward to the deal being done put it that way. Liverpool have done good business I've been impressed. It sounds like LOB didn't create much of an impression on you. Thats the problem these days, most companies only get one shot with consumers and if they don't make the most of it they don't get bought again.
FRANCESCA - Thanks for the heads up on Wilkinsons. Thats a very random place to buy chocolates though.
OREOMONSTER - Indeed i'm very lucky and grateful to Lucy sending these across.
COLIN - That website sounds interesting have you got a link to it? It can be quite funny how foods can differ from the pack shot to whats inside. Ready meals are notorious for that.
PATRICK - Here it is ... http://www.chocolatemission.net/2009/05/may-10th-baileys-original-irish-cream.html from way back when in 2009. Enjoy.
ASHLEY - I don't like bringing politics on to this site but what has been happening up and down the country is just shameful. Mindless vandalism and crime. It makes you feel ashamed to be the same nationality as these people.
TRICKY - Indeed they have changed their packaging. Personally I think they've now gone to the other end of the spectrum and it's a bit recessive. Haha I'm a fussy bugger aren't I :D
CUDDLYKEL - Hi welcome to the site. Of course it is a possibility that someone else might enjoy these more than me. My own rating is just meant to be a guide for you guys. I don't ever say that it is 100% what you should all believe.
GOLDEN - I will lower my expectations now :D Thanks.
Thanks for the feedback everyone. Be sure to give these a try if they appeal to you. 2nd opinions and recommendations are always welcome on this site.
Stay safe
JIM
@Tricky your right the packaging is better. Jim review those peppermint cremes Tricky linked in lol.
It would be nice to try both of these but I can't see them knocking off some other chocolates I want to try before them. It might take me a little while to get round to these, You just keep showing us too many lovely chocs Jim. Lily has you to blame lol.
When are you telling us the winner of the Ritter competition?
Cool review. It would have been nice to have seen something other than chocs with alcohol in them though. I don't drink so neither of these two are ones that I would ever consider buying. I'm always up for seeing anything else they make get some JCM time though :) Its about time we gave some more younger peeps a little bit of attention.
I'm not potshotting your review but you could have told us where we could buy these from. Surely Lucy would have told you that.
Gosh it's been years since I last heard about these people. I didn't even know they were still in business. I naturally assumed they would have folded by now. Good on them for hanging tough and still knocking about. It can't be easy when you have so many bloody competitors. Launching a chocolate brand must be verging on impossible these days.
Whys everyone having a go at the packaging? You afraid of something having a bit of colour in it? Its depressing how some ppl can be so fussy about such a minor thing. It looks fine as it is.
I like the look of some of the other chocos these guys make. Jim do you think Lucy might be able to send you anything more? Can I put in a request to see their chocolate clusters reviewed please? Also some reviews of their chocolate uglies could be fun.
Mmm yum the fillings for these two look even creamier and nicer than mondays caramels. Shame for them the scores aren't in the same league
lol.
I just had a look at some of the bars linked in down the bottom and they don't look very good. If I was to buy anything lily O Briens it would have to be these just because the other look boring.
Is anyone here Irish? What do people think of lilys in Ireland? Are they like your version of our Thorntons. They look similar.
Looks nice Jim. Do we get a nice bits and bobs review tomorrow? I sure hope we do ;)
Although I haven't tried these, I have had some Lily O'brien's before. They were nice, but like you said, don't set the world on fire. I don't like champagne truffles, but the irish cream sounds quite nice.
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