Goldkenn Grand Marnier
I found this bar in my local Budgens supermarket (yes, I’m that posh), nestled in with the usual Nestlé and Cadbury suspects. We’ve never reviewed anything from Goldkenn, so obviously this had to go straight into my basket.
Goldkenn are a Swiss chocolatier with a rather flashy web site that suggests they specialise in this kind of liqueur bar.
Opening the cardboard box and removing the foil reveals a pleasant surprise. A thin bar with large ‘bubbles’, not unlike the Lindt bars.
The chocolate, while thin, is particularly nice. A 37% milk chocolate, it’s smooth and creamy without being too sweet. Once you break into a chunk though, you’re greeted by a fairly substantial sugar shell keeping the liquid liqueur from the chocolate.
I know Simon wouldn’t approve, but personally I don’t mind. There’s plenty of time to enjoy the smooth chocolate before getting to the sugar, and it adds a pleasant crunch to proceedings.
The liqueur itself is very thin, so I assume that sugar coating is actually quite necessary to keep everything from disappearing into a mush. The ingredients on the box describe it as “Grand Marnier extract”. I don’t really know what that means or how it’s extracted, but if you like Grand Marnier, then you’re sure to like this. The alcohol is quite strong, but not overpowering, and all in all the flavours work very well with the chocolate. Particularly nice to warm up on a cold winter’s evening.
An enjoyable bar that disappeared far more quickly than it should. I’ll certainly be looking out for more from Goldkenn.
Information
- Contains milk chocolate (37% cocoa solids).
- Filed under goldkenn, grand marnier, milk chocolate, switzerland.
Nice review, Dom, but what’s cod got to do with a winter’s evening? :p
I picked up a Cointreau verson of this bar last year not realising that it had the dreaded sugar shell *shudder* Chocolate making has advanced so I don’t know why manufacturers would still be using this method.
Shady: Fixed the fishy typo. 🙂
Christine: I’m sure they have their reasons – I suspect it’s easier/cheaper to use a sugar shell. Like I said, I don’t really mind myself.
Goldkenn also produce some liqueur bars without sugar shell… and they are really very nice :-)))
Oh, I’ve just looked over that website. They also have liqueur truffles… Oh, how I wish I could find some of their stuff…