Chocolate Escape
Saturday invited in the second annual Chocolate Escape in downtown Winchester. A plethora of business (both shops and restaurants) created delicate chocolate desserts that were sold for $2. Each participating location proudly placed a red balloon outside of their venue.
Pictured above are chocolates from some of the participating venues including The Half Note Lounge's fudge bars, Brewbakers' cupcake and macaroons, Union Jack's trio of truffles, The Bright Box's "All You Can Eat Chocolate", and samples from both Murphy's and Flavor Pourfection. It was a lot of fun to go around with friends and take the chocolate tour of local businesses. Our personal favorite ended up being Brewbakers' desserts and I would love to see them added to their permanent menu.
Many locations participated and some specialty shops that don't work with chocolates (such as Murphy's Beverage Company and Flavor Pourfection) had their own tastings to invite the people of Winchester into their stores. Murphy's had a table in their entryway where customers could come in and try two wines with sample bites of chocolate that you could nibble at while perusing their store. Flavor Pourfection had free olive oil, vinegar, and jelly tastings for the public. Sample cups were all around the shop and you could try different herb and cheese flavors in your oil or grab a miniature spoon and sample jellies (that ranged from your standard raspberry to jellies made with brandies and wines).
All in all it was a great event to bring people into new shops and businesses on the Loudoun Mall that they may never have visited before and it ran pretty smoothly overall. The only issue our group kept running into was that businesses had run out of chocolates around 4pm (when the event ended at 5pm), but with this being only the second time the event has been hosted we can forgive some snags like that. I suspect we'll see an even better turnout in participating locations next February and if you get the chance, come on out. If you participated in the event, leave a comment and share your thoughts on your favorite chocolates!
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