Many people know Garrison Confections founder Andrew (Drew) Shotts through the televised Pastry Team Championships on Food Network. However, that is just one aspect of the personality and talents of this very talented pastry chef, and one of the real pleasures of my job is to get to watch people mature, craft, develop, and hone their own particular chocolate vision and vocabulary (not to mention eat the results of all that work). Garrison Confections is one of the few Prestige Chocolatiers using Guittard chocolates (which is not surprising given Drew’s work for them as corporate pastry chef), especially those from the E. Guittard line. Drew also uses others, include white chocolate from Felchlin, a Swiss manufacturer.

Type(s): Gourmet Chocolatier, Prestige Chocolatier
Style: Nouvelle American
Taste Rating: Very Good to Extraordinary
Overall Value Rating: Superior

As the founder of The Chocolate Loft in New York City and corporate pastry Chef for Guittard, Drew still managed to produce seasonal collections as well as perennial items for both retail and wholesale customers including The Chocolate Bar in New York City. In mid-2003, Drew closed down The Chocolate Loft in NYC and headed north and east to Providence, Rhode Island to set up shop in the Biltmore ####. There, he continues to produce a wide variety of items, and the relatively low cost of living in Providence enables him to price his goods very attractively. Because he now manages a retail location in Providence, he also come into closer contact with customers and as a result finds himself making lower-priced items (such as chocolate-covered caramel corn) that he never thought he’d be doing but that his customers really want. As a result, Garrison Confections is one of the few companies that has products priced in both the Gourmet and Prestige price ranges (and technically, some are in the mass-market premium price range). Because Drew devotes the same care and attention to detail to his lower-priced that he does to his truffles, price-conscious chocophiles can get great value (and taste) for their money. And, while Garrison Confections’ packaging is attractive (the Legendary Lovers Valentine’s Box especially so), it’s not over the top: Your money is going to buy chocolate, not the box.

Although I don’t cover the topic as often as I could, one of my favorite confections is Chocolate-Covered Butter Toffee sprinkled with almonds. This is certainly due to fond childhood memories of purchasing a box of See’s Victoria English Toffee for my mother’s birthday every year. Garrison Confections butter toffee is one of the best I have ever eaten. The sensory experience begins when you open the bag and your nose is filled with aroma of the butter toffee. A very high ratio of butter to sugar gives the toffee a light crumbly texture and it doesn’t stick to the teeth. The chocolate covering is milk not dark but it has just the right character.
Rating: Extraordinary. And at $7 per half pound, it is also an Extraordinary value.

One of the more common types of confection is the rocher. Now, rocher is just a French word for rock (because of their irregular shape and rough surface), but because of great marketing, many people think that the Italian company Ferrero invented the rocher (they only invented their particular style). Garrison Confections rochers are nothing like their convenience store cousins. They are available in white, milk, and dark varieties and are made with a mixture of chopped roasted nuts (almonds and pistachios), crisped rice, and orange confit. What is most interesting about the rochers is that even though the ingredients were the same, their personalities were very different depending on the chocolate being used. The white chocolate really allowed the taste of the orange confit to come through. The milk chocolate lent the orange rind a raisin-y quality, and in the dark chocolate version I got fleeting impressions of ginger that were not present with the other chocolates. When asked, Drew explained that this was one of the qualities of Guittard chocolate that he had the most trouble explaining to others - that it did not have a specific flavor that always came through; rather the flavor of the chocolate complements the flavors of the other ingredients.
Rating: Superior. At $5 per quarter pound, these are also a Superior value.

Although Drew asked me not to write about this because he figured out a way to make the product even better, I mentioned it above so I have to say something. Garrison Confections’ Chocolate-Covered Caramel Corn is art-house fare. This is not the stuff you’d find in the multiplex at your local mall, this is what you yearn for when you’re at a place like the Angelika or the Paris watching a serious film. Although I can’t find it on the web site at the moment, I have no doubt that it’s not all that much more expensive than the overpriced undersized bags of popcorn with who knows what used for butter ... well I rant. Notwithstanding, while I can go through a monster bucket of regular popcorn during a feature, there’s no way I could finish a bag of Drew’s chocolate-covered caramel corn all by myself in a single sitting even if tried—though I did come close!
Rating: Very Good (and I can’t wait to try the New! Improved! variety).

At $4.50, The Ultimate Nougat Bar is one heavyweight candy bar. If you’re a fan of candy bars with nougat, caramel, and nuts, then this may be just the thing to wean you away from those mass market bars and chew on something that really satisfies. Beware, however, that because these are hand made, the quantity of nuts in any given bar can vary greatly. I’ve had some that were chock-full, and others that were pretty lean. Even without lots of nuts they are good, but with lots of nuts they are even better. With a chocolate-covered top that is decorated with a transfer, these are also among the most attractive candy bars you’ll find.
Rating: Superior.

Last but definitely not least are Garrison Confections truffles. The seasonal collections (there are four each year) feature 12 different flavors (12 pieces for $15 and 24 for $30). I received a 24-piece box with two of each making them perfect to share (or not). When I mentioned vision and vocabulary in the intro to these reviews, I was really thinking about the style of products Drew favors: palet-style centers with multiple layers and very thin enrobings (hand-rolled and dipped truffles are not Garrison Confections’ forte). The layers present complementary and contrasting tastes and textures and are visually very appealing when cut in half. Perhaps the best examples of this in the current collection are the pieces called Forest Fruit and Alphonso Mango. These consist of a thin layer of pate de fruit (a fancy French name for fruit jelly) layered on top of a milk chocolate ganache (and, in the case of the Alphonso, a passion fruit milk chocolate ganache). Simple in concept, this type of center is demanding to produce and is prime demonstration of the technical skills Drew commands. They also happen to taste very good, with the fruit flavors being clear and clean. Most of the pieces in the current collection are made with layered centers, including the standout Cashew Caramel (salted caramel ganache over a layer of handmade cashew praline). Sometimes the flavors are not as forward as they might be. I found it difficult to taste the pear in the Brown Butter Almond piece (ganache infused with pear puree and brown butter, enrobed with milk chocolate and topped with a chocolate-covered almond), and the Chinese Five Spices were too muted when paired with the otherwise excellent hazelnut praline. If you are a praline fan, the Fall Trio consists of layers of almond, pistachio, and hazelnut pralines is not to be missed.

The Valentine’s Day 2004 collection is dubbed “Legendary Lovers” and the names of the pieces reflect this theme. Standout pieces (few, if any, will disappoint) in this collection are the Aphrodite (raspberry pate de fruit over milk chocolate ganache), Agamemnon (hazelnut praline topped by a layer of coffee ganache), Daisy (cinnamon spice), Wendy (vanilla bean), and Lancelot (flavored with bergamot, the essential oil used to flavor Earl Grey tea). Although I liked the Forest Fruit in the pate de fruit in the regular collection, I found the flavors to be a little muddy when incorporated in a ganache - but others I am told say that it is their favorite. Of course, the collection includes a passion fruit chocolate heart, the most romantic of all chocolates. The 12-piece box with Valentine’s ribbon and personalized card is $18 plus applicable taxes and shipping.

Company Information:
Garrison Confections
815 Hope St
Providence, RI 02906
(401) 490-2740 /phone
(401) 490-2742 /fax
http://www.garrisonconfections.com/