Irish Chocolate: A Guide to Ireland's Chocolatiers, Brands and Handmade Chocolates

Ask ten people to name an Irish chocolate and you'll get ten different answers. One person thinks of the box that appears on every kitchen table at Christmas. Another remembers a small shop in a market town, where the chocolates were made in a room just behind the counter. Both are Irish chocolate, and that's the point. There's no single Irish style, but there is a rich, varied and growing chocolate culture on this island, and it's worth knowing your way around it.

We've been part of that story since 1996, making chocolates by hand at our workshop in Coolquay, Co. Dublin. This guide covers what Irish chocolate actually means, the different kinds of Irish chocolate brands you'll come across, and what to look for when you want handmade chocolates that are worth giving, or keeping.

What is Irish chocolate?

Irish chocolate is, simply, chocolate made in Ireland. Cocoa doesn't grow here, so every Irish chocolate starts with beans or chocolate sourced from abroad. What makes it Irish is everything that happens next: the recipes, the ingredients added, the skill of the people working it, and the place it's made.

Ireland's dairy has long been a big part of that story. Milk chocolate made here has a reputation for a creamy, rounded flavour, and fresh Irish cream and butter turn up in fillings, truffles and caramels in workshops across the country. Alongside that, you'll find Irish flavours like whiskey, sea salt and honey worked into chocolates in ways that are distinctly local.

Chocolate maker or chocolatier? The difference matters

The terms get used interchangeably, but they describe two different crafts, and knowing which is which helps you understand what you're buying.

A chocolate maker works from the cocoa bean. They roast, grind and refine beans into chocolate themselves, often called "bean-to-bar". The focus is usually on the character of the cocoa: where it was grown, how it was fermented, how the flavour changes from one origin to the next.

A chocolatier works with finished chocolate, known as couverture, and turns it into something else: filled chocolates, pralines, truffles, slabs and moulded pieces. The craft is in tempering, moulding, filling and flavour. Most of the great chocolate houses of Belgium and France are chocolatiers, and so are we.

Neither is better. They're different routes to very good chocolate, and Ireland now has skilled people on both.

Irish chocolate brands: the landscape

If you're searching for Irish chocolate brands, it helps to think of them in three broad groups.

The household names

Large Irish chocolate companies such as Butlers, founded in Dublin in 1932, and Lily O'Brien's in Co. Kildare have made Irish chocolate familiar well beyond these shores. You'll find them in supermarkets, airports and department stores, and they're often the first Irish chocolates visitors take home.

The bean-to-bar makers

A newer wave of Irish chocolate makers works from the bean in small batches, from the Burren in Co. Clare (Hazel Mountain) to Co. Wexford (Bean & Goose). Their bars tend to celebrate single origins and unusual pairings, and they've brought real energy to the Irish chocolate scene.

The independent chocolatiers

Then there are the workshops: family-run Irish chocolatiers making filled chocolates, truffles and gifts by hand, usually in small quantities and often with a shop attached. Skelligs Chocolate in Co. Kerry is one well-loved example. This is where you'll find the freshest chocolates, the most personal service and, very often, recipes that have been in a family for generations. It's where Chez Emily sits.

Pralines and filled chocolates, made by hand in Coolquay.

Tempering Belgian couverture in the workshop.

Where Belgium meets Ireland: the Chez Emily story

Chez Emily began in July 1996, when Ferdinand, who is Belgian, and Helena, who is Belgian-born Irish, opened their chocolaterie and named it after their daughter, Emily. They brought with them something you can't fake: original Belgian family recipes, and a lifetime of knowing how a proper praline should taste.

Thirty years on, every chocolate is still made at our workshop and shop in Coolquay, Co. Dublin. We use Belgian couverture for its depth and smoothness, and pair it with Irish ingredients. It's Belgian craft, made in Ireland, by an Irish family. If you'd like to know more about why Belgian chocolate has the reputation it does, our guide to Belgian chocolate in Ireland goes into the detail.

All of our chocolates are made to gluten-free recipes, and our dark chocolate range, made with 70.4% cocoa Belgian couverture, is vegan friendly. A small number of products contain gluten, including our Biscoff, Sweetie and Cookie Mallows White Chocolate slabs, and these are clearly labelled. You'll find full details on our Our Chocolates page.

What to look for in Irish handmade chocolates

"Handmade" appears on a lot of packaging. A few simple questions will tell you whether you're getting the real thing.

Where is it made? A genuine Irish chocolatier will tell you exactly where their chocolates are made, and in many cases you can visit. Ours are made in Coolquay, and you're welcome to call in.

How fresh is it? Handmade chocolates with fresh cream fillings are at their best within weeks, not months. Small batches mean the chocolates on the shelf were made recently.

What's the chocolate? Good couverture has a higher cocoa butter content, which gives that clean snap and a melt that coats the mouth rather than turning waxy. It's worth asking what a chocolatier uses.

Can they tell you what's in it? A proper workshop knows every ingredient in every chocolate, and can answer allergen and dietary questions straight away.

Irish chocolate gifts

Irish chocolate makes one of the easiest gifts there is: something made here, made well, that nearly everyone loves. Here's where to start, depending on who it's for.

Personalised chocolate: your own message, set in chocolate.

Chocolate gift boxes: a classic selection, beautifully boxed.

Chocolate hampers: for when one box isn't enough.

For a personal touch, our personalised chocolate range lets you write your own message on a Belgian chocolate slab, and A Message In Chocolate gives you up to 50 characters in your choice of flavour. Chocolate letters are available across the full alphabet, so you can spell out a name or a word.

If you're after something a little different, our Dubai chocolate has become a favourite (here's what Dubai chocolate actually is), and our hot chocolate gifts are made for cold evenings. For the full selection, browse our handmade chocolates.

Visit our two shops

You can buy our chocolates online, delivered across Ireland, or come and see us in person.

Coolquay, Co. Dublin: our workshop and shop, where every Chez Emily chocolate is made.
7 Bridge Street, Ashbourne, Co. Meath: our retail shop in the centre of Ashbourne, stocked with the full range.