In case you're wondering where I'll be this weekend, it's in the wine aisle of drug mart, forever weighing types vs logo & label design vs alcohol content (aka picking the perfect wine). It's a running joke in my relationship that stopping at drugmart to pick up date night snacks will become the date night because I get so caught up trying to pick a wine.
Of course it has to go with the snacks & occasionally match the theme of our netflix selection, like 19 crimes for any Peaky Blinders evenings & the cheapest thing with the highest alcohol content for Trailer Park Boys nights.
But about these Reese's cups...
Key flavor notes - light chocolate, nutty, rich/buttery, textured
Look for beverages with - berry/fig, coffee, caramel, pepper, clove
Avoid - florals, vanilla, anything overly sweet, heavy smoke/tobacco notes
This candy is a fairly approachable food to pair, just think of all the ways you enjoy eating peanut butter and then ask yourself if chocolate would go with it as well. Pb&j, apples and peanut butter, and snickers bars are a few that come to mind readily.
Coffee is in the same family as caramel and pairs very well, the buttery richness opens up your options a little more than a straight chocolate pairing.
As far as the avoidables go, the floral or vanilla flavors would just get lost when paired with the reese's cups and too much smoke & tobacco would overpower it, although if you like smokiness you may enjoy that type of pairing.
Wine - Pinot Noir (Love Noir is my favorite), Riesling
Beer - Blonde coffee ale would be a good switch up from the obvious porter or stout (Evening Joe is a fun one), Lagers, fruit ales like raspberry or strawberry will give you a Pb&j feel
Spirits - any whiskey, reese's cups make a great chaser to cheap Irish whiskeys (think Paddy's)
I hope if you do get overwhelmed trying to pick a beverage this weekend it's not rooted in stress; even if your selection ends up being terrible it's a learning experience & realizing what you don't care for just leads you closer to what you love.
This blog post was written while listening to Dolly Parton Pandora