Butlers Chocolates of Ireland base their marketing strategy on happiness, describing themselves as "purveyors of happiness." They have enlisted William Blake, Albert Camus and my favourite contemporary philosopher - Ms Anonymous - to describe happiness.
If to provide happiness is Butlers' job description, mine is to put their statements and products to the test. I started with two bars, Butlers Milk Chocolate Truffle and Butlers Caramel Crunch.
First to the test was their 75 gram Milk Chocolate Truffle bar made with 32% cocoa solids (minimum), the bar is divided into six chunky pieces filled with a creamy truffle centre. The milk chocolate is a high quality product. It melts slowly on the tongue. The outer chocolate layer is really thick but still leaves a lot of room for the soft truffle in the centre.
I took the milk chocolate truffle bar to the park and offered a piece to Lizzie, my favourite café manageress. As she was very busy, she picked it up, went away, came back two minutes later with a large grin on her face and ran away again, this time with the rest of the bar, proving Ms Anonymous wrong when she states "Happiness is not having what you want but wanting what you have!"
Next was the turn of Caramel Crunch. Like the Milk Chocolate Truffle, it weighs 75g and is presented in the same attractive way: white outer wrapper with gold inner wrapper.
Unfold the wrapper to reveal six milk chocolate rectangles, this time with a soft creamy centre made of caramel infused with honeycomb and hazelnut pieces.
I was not going to chance it, I stayed in the privacy of my humble abode and tested Butlers' statement: "if chocolate can cheer you up just a little bit during the course of your busy day (and it can) then perhaps you’ll greet the next person you meet with a smile."
I found that although the caramel combines well with the high quality milk chocolate, the result is a little too sweet for this particular reviewer, but I have four squares left to bite into before going out and see if the smile theory works.
