7 Popular Chocolate Liqueurs, Ranked Worst To Best

Chocolate liqueur is a sweet and fun take on the alcoholic spirits that everyone loves to indulge in on a night out. Whether you're feeling like a martini or a spiked coffee, or just want to drink it neat, chocolate liqueur is the perfect way to transform your drink order into a chocolate cocktail. It also serves as the perfect dessert digestif after dinner if you're feeling too full to eat more.

It's made with a base of either vodka, whiskey, or bourbon, and the addition of cocoa powder, sugar, and water. Sometimes, salt is added to make the flavor profile more complex and caramel can darken the color. There are a myriad of brands that make chocolate liqueur, so it can be difficult to know which one is the best for your bar cart. This article will rank these chocolate liqueurs from worst to best based on the balance of flavors in each taste profile. More on the methodology is at the end of the article.

Read more: The 27 Best Bourbon Brands, Ranked

7. Mozart Dark Chocolate Liqueur

Mozart is an Austrian brand with a lineup of chocolate liqueurs for every taste preference. Each of the brand's chocolate liqueurs has a spirit base made from sugar beet distillate. From chocolate combinations of strawberry to coffee, the brand has any flavor profile you're looking for in a chocolate liqueur -- and it's gluten-free and vegan, which customers appreciate. Unfortunately, the dark chocolate liqueur, which has a 17% ABV, falls flat.

The round bottle is packaged like a wrapped present, so the liqueur color is not visible from the outside. When pouring, the color is much darker than expected with an unexpected yellow tone and a medicinal scent -- not the best first impression. The consistency of the liqueur is surprisingly runny -- akin to the consistency of coffee than chocolate syrup. However, it could be good to pair with spirits like vodka or tequila, which have a similar liquidity.

Dark chocolate typically has a distinct cocoa flavor amplified by the liquor, so if you're looking for a chocolate liqueur that mirrors the flavors of a dark chocolate bar, this one is for you, despite the typical creaminess of dark chocolate getting lost. Dark chocolate can border on fruity, sour, or acidic, and if you don't like those flavor profiles, you won't like Mozart's dark chocolate liqueur. It leaves a runny, slightly acidic mouthfeel -- but notably, it doesn't leave a smoky aftertaste, which is a nice difference from the others we taste-tested.

6. Mozart Strawberry Chocolate Liqueur

Strawberry chocolate liqueur is the perfect spirit for refreshing drinks that still have a welcome sweetness. With Mozart, there is a definite fruity smell emanating from the glass, and the pink color of the liqueur is fun and inviting.

The taste is as sweet as you'd expect from a strawberry-flavored drink. The mouthfeel is less dense than the Mozart white chocolate but richer than the dark chocolate, so it has a good mid-range thickness if you can't decide what you're in the mood for. I find that the taste is almost like chewing a piece of bubblegum -- it's a fun, childhood flavor that's good for summer but can be a bit overwhelming in a glass on its own, so I recommend using this one to mix drinks. You could even try making a strawberry milkshake using this liqueur, your milk of choice, and strawberry ice cream.

While the presence of chocolate is clear through the drink's creaminess, this is a very strawberry-forward liqueur. With a 15% ABV, the smokiness of the alcohol cuts through the sweetness of the strawberry, allowing the drink as a whole to be more tart. After a few sips, the strawberry flavor just becomes akin to any generic fruity flavor, so it's not enough on its own to make a lasting impact.

5. Tempus Fugit Spirits Crème De Cacao A La Vanille

Based on a 19th-century recipe, Tempus Fugit Spirits keeps its creme de cacao a la vanille classic right down to the bottle, which has a nature-inspired, old-timey aesthetic. The chocolate liqueur has an ABV of 24% and the look of maple syrup. When poured, it's much more of a translucent orange than you'd expect, resembling a whiskey. The brand's spirit base is distilled from raw cacao that is macerated with vanilla bean, so the color is a direct result of the process of making this liqueur.

The brand uses Venezuelan cacao and spices its liqueur with vanilla beans from Mexico. It has a strong, poignant scent of syrup and a welcoming chocolatey tone, with an additional hint of smoke to remind you that it's liqueur.

Out of this entire list, this liqueur definitely has the smokiest taste of all; it's a cinnamon flavor that elevates the liqueur's complexity. The chocolate flavor becomes more prominent in the aftertaste -- the initial sip brings you caramelly and smoky taste profiles, but once the flavors settle, there is a milk chocolate warmth that makes the liqueur tolerable. The mouthfeel is really thick like a maple syrup would be, so I wouldn't recommend drinking it neat -- and neither would reviewers like Wine Enthusiast; this liqueur would be best mixed into a cocktail.

4. Mozart White Chocolate Liqueur

There's always a wide debate about whether white chocolate is actually real chocolate, but the technical verdict is that it is, based solely on the percentages of cocoa butter and milk solids it contains. White chocolate is known for being milder in taste, which is exemplified in the Mozart white chocolate liqueur. The drink has a slightly less intrusive medicinal taste than its dark chocolate counterpart. This white chocolate liqueur actually smells a lot like pitorro, Puerto Rico's national drink, a liquor made from fermented sugarcane.

The white chocolate liqueur, with a 15% ABV, has a more favorable thickness than the dark chocolate liqueur, and it's a thickness that pairs well with its milky taste and hint of vanilla. The notes combined make a sweet and poignant flavor profile that feels much smoother in the mouth than the dark chocolate or strawberry chocolate versions. This is the only Mozart chocolate liqueur on this list that I would recommend drinking neat; when taken in sips, this flavor can bring a calm, refreshing taste to your palate.

An online review read, "I use this all the time in my Irish coffees ... delicious ingredient and so versatile." Aside from coffee, you can use it in cocktails, like a white Russian, too. Because of the milky texture, this would also be a good accompaniment to a dessert as a beverage.

3. Bottega Gianduia

Bottega Gianduia chocolate cream liqueur is an Italian liqueur that looks inviting. The color is like chocolate milk, and it has a creamy consistency great for adding to cocktails. It also has legs -- the trails of droplets that run down the inside of the glass after the drink is swirled around a cup. Legs usually indicate that there is a high alcohol content in the drink. In the case of Bottega, the alcohol base is grappa, a type of brandy, and the ABV is 17% which is just a bit over the average ABV of 15% for liqueurs.

The liqueur has a thickness in the mouth that is indicative of its richness -- it lingers after every sip, likely because it has a similar consistency to chocolate syrup. Naturally, this means the liqueur will work well if one drinks it over ice or even drizzled on top of ice cream. You can also add it to coffee for a boozy boost of caffeine.

Bottega has a decadent taste, and yet there is not a particular chocolatey taste in this chocolate liqueur. There is a definite saccharinity that is quite enjoyable. It is certainly a good liqueur, but it is not specifically chocolate-forward, although it does have the caramel aroma that comes with a typical chocolate liqueur. Because of its balance of sweetness and richness, this liqueur is one I would return to over other options, despite its disappointing lack of cocoa flavor.

2. Om Chocolate Liqueur

Om chocolate liqueur has the color of bourbon and tastes as sweet as chocolate syrup would on its own. Its silky, smooth texture makes it hard to put the glass down. The packaging indicates that the liqueur is bittersweet, but there is definitely a powerful saccharinity here, likely due to the caramel flavors that are used in its ingredients. Om chocolate liqueur is made with sugarcane spirit -- also known as fermented sugarcane juice -- and includes a bit of sea salt, which adds a slight smokiness, heightens the chocolatey flavors, and elevates this drink. This drink is not overly sweet by any means, so it strikes the right balance as the perfect drink following your meal.

Om chocolate liqueur also comes mixed into cold brew. Sold in 200-milliliter cans, the coffee products have a 17.5% ABV and 35 milligrams of caffeine per can. The drink smells and tastes like a fresh pot of black coffee, with no real hints of chocolate liqueur, so if you're looking for a hit of caffeine to wake you up after a long workday, this will definitely do that.

This liqueur is a good one to use for cocktails. To keep it classic, you can make the Omspresso martini, which consists of Om chocolate liqueur, coffee, vodka, and bitters.

1. Bailey's Chocolate Liqueur

Bailey's liqueur is a household name for Irish creams, and the brand has elevated the chocolate liqueur market by combining its original Irish cream, which has a base of Irish whiskey with Belgian chocolate. As soon as you open the colorfully decorated bottle, the aroma is as if you're seated around a campfire about to make a s'more. Unfortunately, Bailey's chocolate liqueur is lacking in the unappealing coloration of its chocolate liqueur, which has a brown-gray hue that is not inviting.

Still, Bailey's makes the number one spot on this list because of its flavor. With a 15.7% ABV, Bailey's chocolate liqueur has legs but is a bit more runny than the Bottega. The flavor profile is exactly like a glass of rich chocolate milk -- if you loved brands like Yoo-Hoo growing up, this is the perfect chocolate liqueur for you. You only really taste the alcohol on the backend of each sip, so the drink goes down smooth and tastes almost like melted chocolate soft serve in the best way.

Bailey's is chocolatey, sweet, and still gentle on your palate, always inviting you to take another sip. You can shake this with vanilla vodka to make a chocolate martini, make a more chocolatey cocktail, or drink it straight if you are in the mood for a quick sweet treat.

Methodology

The chocolate liqueurs on this list were chosen based on brand popularity, and the order of the liqueurs on this list was determined primarily by a taste test of each liqueur. The liqueurs were tasted neat, not in cocktails, to gather a well-rounded understanding of the flavor profile of each one. A successful liqueur was one that did not have an overpowering taste of alcohol and one that balanced the sweet flavors with the smoky and bitter. I also took into account online reviews.

Read the original article on Tasting Table