August Outturn 2024 Feature Interview
Every year we hear the same thing “membership is worth it JUST for the chocolate pairing tasting”. The SMWS x BASIK Chocolate collaboration is highly regarded amongst SMWS Australian members and is easily the most anticipated tasting in our calendar. As we prepare to welcome another year of SMWS x BASIK collaboration with the incredible Krsna Rajalingam, Adam Ioannidis had a little chat with the Wild Scientist of Chocolate to learn a little bit more about how things have changed over the last few years for him, and some of the goodies we can expect from this year’s collaboration…
- This is your fifth year collaborating with the SMWS, how has your approach/process changed in that time, if at all?
First of all, I wanted to thank both the members and team at SMWS for the ongoing support and the following this particular event has built over the five years. Thank you everyone!
Yes & No, I’m always thinking about new ideas & concepts within the world of flavours, chocolate and unique ingredients. This being the 5th anniversary since the inception of this collaboration, my focus is on elevating that experience from our end: specifically around presentation & the types of stories/memories we build around this. Having seen the line-up, my mind is going down adventure/fantasy, so let’s see if we can help guide members through some imaginative stories and have a few laughs and smiles along the way.
- We saw the ‘snack bar’ last year (an absolute treat), was there any reason for moving back to the double bon bons for this year’s pairings?
Yes! I love the snack bars and the size itself helps with creativity (i.e. layering etc). The biggest challenge last year was storage space for the finished product. We had to use every cubic inch of our holding cabinet (a special fridge with a chocolate preset function for humidity and temperature control) to store everything. For this year’s bonbons, members will see a small change in the shape too!
- Sometimes it can be difficult to condense so many flavours into a broad-stroke flavour profile, but if you had to pick a favourite Society Flavour Profile to work with, which one would it be, and why?
I’ve always loved the Lightly Peated category. Most whiskies, whether it’s the society bottles I’ve personally tried or featured at the SMWS x BASIK events have always presented an opportunity to go in several directions. From a flavour pairing perspective, it’s not a challenge, per se, more it gives me a chance to really pause and think about which lane to pick.
- Last year we saw some real obscure and mad scientist-esque ingredient acquisitions (including some you purchased off of eBay), can we expect something similar with this year’s pairings?
Sadly not, this year, I took a stroll down both the Coles and Woolies aisles and realized even a Cadbury celebrations box was too expensive, so this year, we’re going with Aldi chocolate on discount day. (On a serious note, No surprises until closer to the date!)
- What are some of your favourite things to pair with whisky outside of chocolate?
A group of friends, who happen to be members of SMWS too, we often pair our whisky with a home-cooked meal on a Friday evening. We did pair a Macallan Rich Cacao with a Tiramisu for dessert. Simple pleasures!
- Peated and smoky drams can sometimes be quite divisive amongst whisky enjoyers, do you have tips or guidelines you follow when it comes to pairing these (or similarly strong/dominant) flavours with chocolate?
I try my best to keep an open mind when doing pairings, I know some people aren’t fans of a big smoke bomb in their drams, it’s a tough one but you could always try something with more milk present such as milk & white chocolate vs. dark. Milk fat can help balance the sharpness of a strong peat bomb.
This article is featured in August 2024 Outturn — bottles will be available to purchase on Friday the 2nd of August at midday AEST exclusively to members of The Scotch Malt Whisky Society. Not a member? Click here to learn more about the world’s most colourful whisky club.
