Blackberry & Ginger Dark Chocolate

Cachet Premium Belgian Chocolate: Blackberry & Ginger 

Kim's Chocolates, created in 1987 by Mr. Fons Maex, specializes in bringing awareness to fine Belgian chocolate. Their brand known as Cachet takes the love and craftsmanship that is put into Belgian chocolate to a whole new level, offering a large range of all natural flavored gourmet chocolates including such flavors as Milk Chocolate with Hazelnut Cream and Caramel filling and Milk Chocolate with Coffee Cream filling among others. 

Kim's Chocolates
Belgium
Phone: +32/16 55 15 80
Fax: +32/16 56 92 42
Email: info@kimchoc.be 
www.kimchoc.be


-The Gamer-
Our next entry is another item that we came across in the same German deli that we obtained the Johannisbeere from. This one happens to be chocolate, rather than a beverage. It's Cachet Premium Belgian Chocolate, flavored with the interesting combination of blackberry and ginger. The first thing that Dawn and I both noticed on opening the package was the rather large squares that the chocolate bar is divided into. Unlike your average Hershey's bar that has squares about half an inch wide by one inch long, these ones were about one and a half inch wide by one and a half inch long, with a total of eight squares. The other thing we noticed right away was the obvious scent of blackberries and ginger. Although both scents are present in equal measure, when it comes to taste the blackberries seemed to be more dominant. You could taste the ginger in the background, but it wasn't overpowering. The chocolate itself is around 57% cocoa solids, a rather rich flavor when compared to most American made milk chocolates, but certainly not enough to overcome the other flavors present. Overall, I would call this a nice little find that would appeal to anyone that has a craving for dark chocolate. 

Black Currant Spritzer

Rieder Johannisabeere Gespritzt

Austrian beer and ale company Rieder, established in 1536, is well known for some of their classic Indian
Pale Ales (IPA), Weißbierbock (pumpkin beer), and Honig Bier (honey beer). A little less known but just as high quality are their Gespritzt (fruit spritzers) which they refer to as wellness drinks. They offer apple and black currant flavors.

Rieder Bier
phone +43 (0) 7752 82017
Fax +43 (0) 7752 82017 33
Email: office@rieder-bier.at

www.rieder-bier.at 

-The Gamer-
The next entry is something that I came across while we were at a local German deli. It was in the selection for alcoholic beverages, so I had assumed it would be something like a malt beverage. It would appear that I was wrong. Upon looking all over the label for information, I found nothing pertaining to an alcohol percentage. Perhaps they don't add those where this beverage was made (it's produced in Austria), or perhaps it really is non-alcoholic. Regardless of whether or not you can get drunk after drinking enough of these, the taste was rather pleasant. It's supposed to be black currant flavor, but the ingredients listed say that it's made with black elderberry juice. As far as I know, they are are not the same fruit, so I will have to make another assumption that something was somehow lost in translation. Anyways, back to the drink itself. Whether or not it's black currant or black elderberry, it does indeed have a berry flavor to it. Personally, it reminded me of various jams my grandmother would make using dark berries. The flavor is a little rich and dark, but with enough sweetness so as to make it so that the drink isn't bitter. That might be from the natural flavor of the berries, or it may be from the sugar that is also listed  on the ingredients. While this is a carbonated drink, it isn't overly so, with just enough fizz to it to let you know that this isn't straight up juice.