Geoffrey Dean, blog, whisky and chocolate tasting

While wine and chocolate are conditional bedfellows, dependent on the varietals used in the former, whisky and chocolate are lifelong partners, unable to resist each other. They form a perfect union, especially if you combine the world-class products from Charbonnel et Walker, chocolatiers to the Royal Family, with aged whiskies from Balvenie, the outstanding Speyside producer.

Balvenie is the only distillery in Scotland that grows its own barley, malts in its own traditional floor maltings,and has its own coopers and coppersmith on site. It befell your correspondent to undertake the agreeable task of consuming chocolate and whisky alike in London this week under the expert guidance and commentary of Dr Andrew Forrester, 36, whose knowledge of whisky is second to none.

We started with a 15-year old single barrel Balvenie and a white chocolate vanilla truffle. This particular dram had a honeyed maltiness with delicate spice notes and vanilla oak flavours that were an ideal match for the truffle. "Yum," I wrote in my notes as Forrester, who has sat on the tasting panel for the Scottish Malt Whisky Society, purred with enthusiasm. "This whisky is like Kyle Minogue," he claimed. "It dances over your tongue in a light lithe way."

Who was I to disagree with such an imaginative connection?

But Forrester, his Black Country Birmingham vowels still undiluted by years of living in Scotland, was not finished with his metaphors yet. When the next whisky, a 12-year old Balvenie Doublewood (matured first in traditional oak, then in sherry casks), was paired with a dusted caramel chocolate truffle, he compared the combination to Nigella Lawson. "This is fuller and rounder than our first whisky," he said. "More voluptuous and richer." Its nutty sweetness and cinnamon spiciness with sherry notes complemented the caramel perfectly.

When yet another delicious chocolate, this time a port and cranberry truffle, effortlessly combined with a 21-year old Balvenie Portwood that had been finished in port casks, I wondered who the good doctor would select as his living symbol. "An elegant professional ballroom dancer," was his nomination. "This whisky glides across the palate like she does across the dancefloor. Her bright dress matches the flavour, which is not shy and retiring but bold."

Chuckling at the apt comparison, I popped the truffle into my mouth and sucked in the creamy texture of the portwood with its velvety silkiness and long nutty finish. My conclusion was almost an immediate one: that whisky and chocolate are a marriage made in heaven.

Geoffrey Dean writes for The Times and his studying for his WSET exams

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