Easter | Drinking chocolate

Chocolate, businesswoman Juliette Brun eats it. And for several weeks, she has been drinking it. Under the Juliette & Chocolat brand, it has just marketed a liqueur flavored with “Brownies and Smore’s”.

The new Juliette & Chocolat workshop, on the South Shore, would be the dream of any gourmand. As soon as the door opens, a powerful smell of chocolate greets customers. The displays are filled with decadent cookies, fudgy brownies, waffles and cakes. A few days before Easter, decorated bunnies and eggs are added to the stock.

In the middle of the counter, a bottle attracts curiosity. Under the Juliette & Chocolat logo, the label displays “Brownies and Smore’s alcoholic drink”. The new chocolate liqueur launched by the company a few weeks ago.

The chocolatier already knew about flavored alcohols. When she opened her first restaurant in 2003, she used it to prepare cocktails. However, it stopped after a few years, because according to a requirement from the Régie des alcools, customers had to have a meal, and not just a dessert, with their drink.

The chain, which had 10 restaurants last year, abandoned its liquor license after a few years. But the idea of ​​creating a drink never left Juliette Brun.

The last six months have not been easy for the businesswoman. After 20 years, his company declared bankruptcy in August. It came back to life with the opening of two franchises in the fall and a production workshop in Saint-Lambert on February 14.

In the storm, the project of creating a chocolate drink survived.

Without cream, please!

Several Quebec distilleries already sell chocolate alcohols. Unlike Juliette Brun’s drink, they all contain cream. The businesswoman wanted to stand out and offer a more versatile product.

Its choice fell on the design of a liqueur whose alcohol level is slightly higher than that of a cream and whose conservation is easier.

To add complexity, she recreated in the bottle the taste of one of the company’s emblematic products: the smore’s brownie, a chocolate and caramel cake, topped with a toasted marshmallow.

“A chocolate liqueur is a bit one-dimensional,” she observes. Taking inspiration from smore’s, we’ll look for several flavors. That of the caramel with a touch of salt, that of the chocolate of the brownie and the toasted side of the marshmallow which finishes the dessert. »

The liqueur has been on sale for several weeks at the Société des alcools and has already enjoyed great success. Marketing agent François Ménard is not surprised. The liqueur category is the most demanded among spirits. So much so that he is already working with Juliette Brun on a second liqueur inspired by another favorite product, fleur de sel caramel.

Star alcohol

Juliette Brun’s luminous smile is known to the public, among other things, thanks to her hosting of the show Chocolate featured on the Zeste channel as well as the publication of her recipe books. The chocolatier is not the first famous chef to associate her name with an alcohol. Ricardo Larrivee, Stefano Faita, Bob le chef and even Christian Bégin all had wine named after them. However, she considers her approach to be different.

She also plans to use her drink in future desserts. She imagines it in a tiramisu, a panna cotta, a mousse or even an ice cream.

“You don’t need to use a lot,” she explains. It enhances the flavors. »

No matter what dessert she chooses, she already knows that she will accompany it with a cocktail. Without doubt a chocolate martini, his favorite recipe.

Visit the Juliette & Chocolat website

Choco-Smore’s Martini

For 2 people

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup (180 ml) vodka
• 1/2 cup (120 ml) Brownie & Smore’s liqueur
• 1/4 cup (60 ml) Leblanc cream of gin
• Chocolate shavings to decorate
• Ice

Preparation

• 1. Combine all the ingredients, except the chocolate shavings, in a shaker and stir for a few seconds.
• 2. Serve in a martini glass, straining the ice.
• 3. Decorate with chocolate shavings.