Heck Of A Guy

Heck of a Guy 2007 Christmas Season Update #4:
It’s The Most Chocolodka Time Of The Year – Internationally

A few days ago, an email arrived with an inquiry that read, in part:

After I emailed the answer, it occurred to me that if ever there was a time that called for

that time is this Christmas season.

Consequently, I am, in the spirit of the holidays, sharing my response to this vital issue which involves international economics, marketing tactics, government regulations, nationalism, and individual personality traits,

But first, …

The Original Chocolodka Revelation

For those unfamiliar with the concept, Chocolodka is DrHGuy’s favorite version of Chocolate Vodka.

A set of incredibly witty and erudite instructions and the recipe for this magical concoction, lushly illustrated with photos of Lord of Leisure, Hippie With Tiara, and Lady Lawanda performing the tasks involved in producing Chocolodka, was published in April 2006 at The Quintessential Chocolate Vodka – Chocolodka.

That post introduced Chocolodka thusly,

Gentle reader, would your life be enhanced by an elixir that

1. Is intoxicatingly delicious and deliciously intoxicating?
2. Makes any event an occasion and any occasion an event – occasionally or eventually?
3. Convinces your sweetie that making snow angels naked while you videotape the event qualifies as madcap merriment?
4. Persuades you and perhaps even other (also elixir-ingesting) individuals that you are a fuuuuuuunnnnn sort of guy or gal?
5. Infuses your empty, barren life with meaning, love, and joy?

Well, Bunkie, if you’ll settle for four out of five, then I’ve got just the thing for you, a little something I like to think of as

Now, on to today’s question.

The Cadbury’s Caramel Query

Dear Correspondent,

It’s a pleasure to hear from another seeker of the ultimate life-affirming force or, as I like to call it, Chocolodka, especially when said seeker has done her homework.

The answer to your query re the use of Cadbury’s Caramello in place of Cadbury’s Dairy Milk with Caramel is that most frustrating of responses, “it depends.” Here is what my otherwise lucid father persisted in calling – ahem – the dealio.

A bit of historical background is useful. I found the original list of ingredients approximately 142 internet years ago (4 or 5 years ago in non-cyber notation) when I was searching for certain British goods to purchase as gifts for a woman I was then dating (who has since found her bliss in another relationship) who grew up habituated to certain products produced and sold only in the UK. In the process, I stumbled across a forum for English expatriates in which a Brit offered her recipe for chocolate vodka. She was, I still recall, adamant about the use of what she called “Cadbury’s Caramel,” which I have since learned had undergone a marketing-driven name change to “Cadbury’s Dairy Milk with Caramel” shortly before I discovered the recipe that included that selfsame candy bar.

Not being the patient sort, I was interested in the possibility of a workable alternative chocolate-caramel source that didn’t necessitate a shipping delay of 2-3 weeks, at least in those days. In the course of making inquiries about this issue, I discovered that in 1998 Hershey’s had bought out Cadbury’s US operation and that, subsequent to that date, the “Cadbury’s Caramello” known to citizens of the USA has been manufactured by Hershey’s. Some candy aficionados maintain that it is is subtly different than its British counterpart. Further, the US FDA and its English equivalent enforce different standards pertinent to the production of such foodstuffs.

To further complicate matters, the equivalent candy in Canada is the “Caramilk,” which is produced by Cadbury Adams and in Australia, Cadbury still produces “Cadbury’s Caramello.”

In any case, I produced my first batch of Chocolodka using Cadbury’s Dairy Milk with Caramel. The reactions of those who sampled the results of that first effort were so overwhelmingly positive that I have never experimented with other ingredients. On paper, I’m sure the Hershey’s Caramello and the Cadbury’s Dairy Milk with Caramel.are so similar that the results of mixing either with cheap vodka and heating that mix until the candy is melted and blended with the liquor should produce almost identical tasting concoctions. And, as I point out in my post, “the basic constituents are nature’s two most perfect foods, vodka and chocolate,” so how wrong can one go?

On the other hand, I think the modest difficulty in obtaining the Cadbury’s Dairy Milk with Caramel. adds to the mystique of the product and, in turn, the appreciativeness of the recipients. The Anglophilia connotations seem a plus as well.

So, as for me and my clan, we will stand forthright and steadfast behind the long and hallowed traditonal, original, genuine Chocolodka recipe, but I would equally forthrightly and steadfastly refuse a blind tasting comparing my elixir with a Caramello-based version because I suspect that whatever differences might exist would dissolve after knocking back a couple of samples.

My bottom line suggestion is that you try it both ways and choose your favorite. What’s the worse case scenario – you end up with two bottles of Chocolodka, one of which you like a bit better than the other. Poor baby.

Before closing, I should point out the Chocolodka is a dense drink that typically has chunk-lets of chocolate-caramel floating in it. Most Chocolate Vodkas I’ve tasted have contained much lower concentrations of chocolate.

Good luck – and do let me know what you discover in your explorations.

Your Chocolodka Chum,

DrHGuy

Footnotes

1. From Luke 2:14 (King James Version): “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”↩