9 spirited cocktail-flavored chocolates for Valentine’s Day and beyond

Those heart-shaped boxes filled with mystery cremes are delightful, but this year, we’re leaning into the kind of chocolate treat that resembles a nightcap. When a botanical gin or a barrel-aged bourbon is folded into velvety ganache made from high-quality chocolate, you get a tipsy-tasting dessert that feels like a distilled bite of luxury. Enjoy your favorite spirit in a single, decadent, melt-in-your-mouth moment (and get one for your Valentine, too).

Made in Asheville, North Carolina, French Broad Chocolate's Whiskey Barrel bar uses local Two Trees Distilling oak barrels during the chocolate ageing process. (Courtesy of French Broad Chocolate)

Whiskey Barrel Dark Chocolate bar from French Broad Chocolate

Aging sustainably sourced cacao in barrels from Asheville, North Carolina’s Two Trees Distilling adds vanilla, oak and a hint of smoke flavors to French Broad Chocolate’s Whiskey Barrel Dark Chocolate bar. The mild dark chocolate and malt whiskey notes are finished with smoked salt to enhance the delicious experience.

$12 for a 2.1-ounce bar. Frenchbroadchocolate.com.

With botanical notes from Castle & Key Gin and high-quality dark chocolate, Bissinger's Gin and Tonic bar is one to savor. (Angela Hansberger for the AJC)

Castle & Key Dark Chocolate Gin & Tonic bar from Bissinger’s

Hidden in a square of Bissinger’s Gin & Tonic bar is a liquid center resembling the botanicals in gin and tonic. The European chocolate may not have the bubbles, but it has all the floral sweetness of Castle & Key’s Roots of Ruin Gin. And the packaging is lovely. Pro tip: Check out Bissinger’s cocktail truffle assortment and Espresso Martini Truffles.

$8 for a 3-ounce bar. Bissingers.com.

British chocolate maker House of Dorchester's Marc de Champagne truffles include French Brandy and strawberries. (Courtesy of House of Dorchester)

Pink Marc de Champagne truffles from House of Dorchester

Perfect to add to — or in place of — a bottle of bubbly, House of Dorchester truffles have a pink center made from strawberries and Marc de Champagne, a French brandy made from Champagne grapes. Icing sugar coats the outside of each tiny treat, which comes packaged in a tiny pink gift bag.

Available now in local Barnes & Noble stores for $10.99 for 1.58 ounces. barnesandnoble.com.

Port Charlotte Scottish Barley Nama chocolates are Japanese-style fresh chocolate cubes infused with Islay Scotch whisky. (Courtesy of Royce Chocolate USA)

Port Charlotte Scottish Barley Nama chocolates from Royce

Nama is a fresh Japanese ganache-style chocolate with a soft, melt-in-your-mouth texture and a dusting of cocoa powder. Royce’s Port Charlotte infuses a wee bit of Scotch whisky into velvety fresh cream and chocolate for an Islay experience that leaves a hint of smoke with the silky milk chocolate.

$23.99 for 20 pieces. 10820 Abbotts Bridge Road, Johns Creek. 470-359-6276, roycechocolate.com.

Woodford Reserve's Double Oaked Bourbon is infused into mild dark chocolate in a collaboration with chocolatier Compartés. (Courtesy of Woodford Reserve)

Woodford Reserve Double Oaked Dark Chocolate Old Fashioned bar from Compartés

Master Distiller Elizabeth McCall and chocolatier Jonathan Grahm partnered to make this homage to the classic old-fashioned cocktail in chocolate form. Infused with Woodford Reserve Double Oaked Bourbon, the limited-edition chocolate bar combines flavors of rich butterscotch, caramel, vanilla and a hint of orange in one decadent confection.

Available for $9.95 for 3 ounces at the Woodford Reserve distillery and shipped nationwide. shop.woodfordreserve.com/compartes-chocolate-bar.

Port Wine & Figs is just one of Zotter's Austrian chocolates filled with thick layers of wine ganache. (Courtesy of Zotter)

Red Wine bar from Zotter Chocolate

Zotter turns red wine (Olivin from Austrian winemaker Winkler-Hermaden) into a rich ganache, then covers it in Austrian 70% dark chocolate. The red wine flavors are so pronounced that you taste the boldness of the Blauer Zweigelt grapes grown in volcanic soil. Also delicious: Port Wine and Fig bar (shown here) made with Portuguese Reserve Ruby Port.

$11.79 per bar, zotterusa.com.

Raaka's Bourbon Cask-Aged Chocolate bar tastes smooth and oaky, like a glass of bourbon. (Courtesy of Raaka Chocolate)

Bourbon Cask-Aged Chocolate bar from Raaka

Raaka uses unroasted beans in their chocolates to extract brighter and fruitier flavor notes from their single-origin cacao. The organic cacao from Tanzania in this bar is aged in bourbon casks for a couple of months, which infuses smooth and oaky undertones into the 82% cacao chocolate.

$8 for 1.8 ounces. Available at local Whole Foods Markets and Raakachocolate.com.

Yo-ho-ho Caribbean Dark Rum Dark Chocolate truffles from Cocopotamus

For your Valentine pirate, consider Yo-ho-ho truffles: handmade artisanal dark chocolate fudge infused with Caribbean dark rum from Martinique. The hand-dipped chocolate balls are painted with edible glitter and topped with sprinkles of Hawaiian turbinado sugar crystals.

$13.50 per 5-piece box. cocopotamus.com.