For the past few years, I’ve seen a lot of these Turin liqueur-filled chocolates on store shelves around Christmas time. Unlike other liqueur-filled chocolates, these ones go for brand name recognition – they come in the flavors of Bailey’s, Grand Marnier and Kahlua, complete with the logos of those liqueurs on the packages.

I actually think this is a really good product idea, and given the commonness of liqueur-filled chocolates, I’m surprised that we haven’t seen more of this kind of cooperation between beverage and candy companies. Turin seems to be going for maximum market saturation, with their chocolates available at most retailers, in all sizes of containers from little bags of four or five to large boxes and big novelty plastic tubes.

Previously, I’d only ever tried the Bailey’s variety, which I thought was pretty amazing – and apparently everyone else did too, as it’s hard to find them in anything other than a big expensive tin, especially in the post-holiday sale season. So I decided to go with the Kahlua-filled ones for this review.

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I think my dad often has trouble deciding what to get me for Christmas. But he knows me well enough to know that he can’t go wrong with chocolate. So this year, my gift included a box of Griotte Sour Cherry and Liqueur-Filled Chocolates from my favorite Italian market. A box as big as my torso. Ho ho ho… Merry Christmas!

Griotte are made by the Kras company from Zagreb, Croatia. According to their website, Kras has been churning out quality chocolates since 1911. Under the name of Union, it was the first chocolatier to operate out of Eastern Europe, where it supplied confections to the Royal Court of Austria-Hungary. The company was later renamed after Josip Kras, “an antifascist fighter and a distinguished leader of the worker’s movement.” The company was socially owned until 1992, and now they’re known for a variety of popular candies and a chain of “CHOCO BAR” chocolate shops.

That’s all interesting enough, but unlike other European countries like Germany and Switzerland, I’ve never heard that Croatia has any particular reputation for producing great chocolate. Like they say, the proof of the pudding (or in this case, the chocolate) is in the eating.

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I’ve always appreciated the aggressive nature of Altoids. They simply aren’t a wallflower candy. Instead, they are more like the uncle who has one too many at family gatherings and inevitably ends up dancing with his shirt off or passed out under a porch. These are mints you eat with anticipation. You know that there will be flavor, oh yes, and sometimes it may slightly overwhelm you with potency. But, like the expectation of a wacky uncle’s trademark bad behavior, there is something comforting about the flavor and effectiveness of Altoids. After all, they consistently freshen even the most critically vile breath.

The new Crème de Menthe and Dark Chocolate Dipped Crème de Menthe are no exception. And I’ll say it right now: they are delicious.

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