Haighs teams with gin distilleries for unique new chocolate range
When gin and chocolate collide, magic happens. Adelaide favourite Haigh’s has partnered with award-winning gin distilleries for a serious treat.
Lifestyle
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It takes years to perfect the ultimate gin and chocolate combination. Just ask the man who created a new range of Haigh’s Chocolates with craft gin at their core.
Australia’s oldest family-owned chocolate maker has partnered with award-winning gin distilleries from South Australia, NSW and Victoria to unveil the three limited-edition chocolates.
Swiss-born chocolate guru and Haigh’s Chocolates product manager Ben Kolly was tasked with the enviable challenge of marrying two of life’s ultimate pleasures.
In doing so, he captured the flavours of small-batch gins by Adelaide Hills Distillery, Sydney’s Archie Rose Distilling Co. and Melbourne Gin Company.
“It was about making recipes that have balance,” Mr Kolly said. “The team and I would meet every fortnight to smell and taste the chocolates until we got it right.”
The result is a Milk Adelaide Hills Bitter Orange Ganache, The Dark Archie Rose Signature Dry Gin Ganache, and a Milk Melbourne Dry Gin Fudge.
The range, to be released on Tuesday and called The Collaboration, was the brainchild of Haigh’s marketing manager Fiona Krawczyk. It follows the inaugural collaboration of this kind with Yalumba wines and Coopers Brewery in 2015.
“We’re a fiercely proud South Australian family-owned business but we’ve also been in Melbourne for over 50 years and in Sydney for more than 15,” Ms Krawczyk said. “We wanted to connect with craft producers in those parts of Australia. Little was I to know there was going to be a global pandemic and how important those connections would prove to be at this time.”
Mr Kolly, who developed a love of cooking while helping out in his mother’s kitchen and has since worked as a chocolatier all over the globe, is thrilled with the result.
“Working for a company like this is like heaven,” he said. “It’s personal. The products, presentation and attention to detail is amazing. I love my job.”
