On Tuesday I was invited to Theo Chocolate for an event designed to promote the Hopscotch Festival this weekend on April 23 and 24. I wasn’t totally clear what we would be doing there, but I had never been inside Theo before. So I thought, let’s do this. Let’s go see the chocolate factory. After all (this is still me thinking), Theo is next to Brouwer’s, and Brouwer’s has Firestone Walker Union Jack IPA on cask right now. So, I thought, I can get there early and have that. (I did and it was revelatory—it will make you believe in the virtues of hoppy IPAs again, I swear to you.)

Anyway, after beer church I went over to Theo and learned that Ari Shapiro, a kilt-wearing master of whiskey about town, had brought the Theo people some scotches. These they had paired up with some of their chocolates. We, the guests of this event, were to taste the chocolates in concert with the scotches, the latter presented to us in those same tiny plastic cups that your dentist hands you before yelling “rinse.”

The reason I bring all this up is that one of the pairings was so brilliant, so easily replicable, I feel the need to share it. It’s the Dalwhinnie 15 year (Dalwhinnie is owned by Diagio, the same company that employs Shapiro to spread the scotchy gospel around Seattle) and Theo’s Hazelnut Crunch Milk Chocolate. Dalwhinnie is a Highlands scotch, a light-to-medium-body single malt that is in possession of with what Shapiro calls “tree-fruit flavors.” It’s mildly peaty and quite smooth. Nothing much to argue with here.

Moving on to the chocolate. Now, I don’t even care about milk chocolate. I can’t remember the last time I had any. But the whiskey flatters this particular milk chocolate remarkably. Flatters it like a pair of dark, skinny jeans with a lot stretch in them. Flatters it like an English accent. Flatters it like a aptitude for acoustic guitar. You know what I mean? It makes you look at Theo hazelnut crunch and want to tell it sorry, so sorry, for being kind of bored by the idea of you. For not seeing your deep, sweet, caramelized-butter beauty.

You don’t have to say any of that stuff when you serve this combination to your guests at your next dinner party. They’ll get it. And they’ll love it.

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