Wiltshire brewer Wadworth has partnered with award-winning artisan chocolatier Hollychocs to create a unique beer and chocolate collaboration celebrating local craftsmanship, flavour and provenance.
The collaboration brings together a selection of Wadworth beers with handcrafted chocolates created by Holly Garner – The Chocolate Engineer, founder of Wiltshire-based Hollychocs. Based just a few miles apart, the two independent Wiltshire businesses have worked together to explore the complementary flavours found in beer and chocolate and create pairings designed to bring out the best in both.
The partnership began with a tasting session at the Hollychocs studio in Poulshot, where Holly and the Wadworth team explored a range of combinations, looking at everything from roasted and caramel notes to fruit, bitterness and sweetness. The result is a carefully considered collection of pairings that gives customers a new way to experience some of Wadworth’s beers.
Beer and chocolate may not be the most obvious pairing, but they share many of the same flavour characteristics. Malt can bring notes of caramel, biscuit and toast, while different beer styles can introduce fruit, bitterness and roasted flavours. Chocolate offers an equally broad spectrum, making the two an exciting combination when carefully paired.
Raurie Allen, Marketing Manager at Wadworth said: “At Wadworth, we’re always looking for interesting ways to showcase the flavours and craftsmanship within our beers, and this collaboration with Hollychocs has given us the opportunity to do exactly that. It’s been fascinating to see how chocolate can bring out different characteristics in a beer – and vice versa. We’re particularly pleased to be working with another independent Wiltshire business. There is a huge amount of fantastic food and drink being produced locally, and this collaboration is a great example of what can happen when two passionate makers come together.”
The collaboration brings together two Wiltshire businesses with craftsmanship at their heart. Wadworth has been brewing beer in Devizes since 1875, building a reputation around brewing heritage, quality and character. Hollychocs is based in nearby Poulshot and was founded by award-winning chocolatier and Chemical Engineer Holly Garner. Known as The Chocolate Engineer, Holly combines her scientific background with traditional chocolate-making techniques to create chocolates in small batches using ethically sourced, single-origin chocolate.
Hollychocs has won more than 60 awards and is a recognised Great Taste Producer. The business was named Wiltshire’s Best Food Producer 2024, while its Caramel Collection went on to be crowned South West Chocolate Champion 2025 and Reserve Supreme Champion Product 2025 at the Taste of the West Awards.
Hollychocs founder, Holly Garner said: “I absolutely loved working with the Wadworth team on this collaboration because there is so much more crossover between beer and chocolate than people might expect. You find roasted, caramel, fruity and bitter notes running through both, so we were able to experiment with pairings where the chocolate changes the way you experience the beer and the beer changes the way you experience the chocolate. Being able to do this with another Wiltshire business makes it even more special. We’re incredibly proud to make our chocolates here in the county, so collaborating with a brewer with such a strong Wiltshire heritage felt like a very natural fit.”
Following the collaboration, customers will also have the opportunity to discover the combinations for themselves through a specially created Wadworth and Hollychocs chocolate pairing box. The box has been developed to complement selected Wadworth beers, allowing customers to recreate the tasting experience at home and discover how pairing the two can reveal new flavours in both the chocolate and the beer.
Raurie Allen, Marketing Manager, Wadworth added: “We want people to have fun with it. It’s about taking something familiar and experiencing it in a slightly different way – tasting, comparing and discovering flavours you might not have noticed before.”
The partnership has also inspired a new Chocolate Tasting Experience at Hollychocs HQ in Poulshot. Led by Holly, the experience takes guests on a guided tasting journey through chocolate from around the world, exploring how cacao origin, climate, growing conditions and production all influence flavour. Guests discover where each chocolate comes from, how the cacao is grown and sourced, and the journey it takes from bean to finished chocolate. Holly also shares the science behind tasting, helping guests identify the different flavours, aromas and textures found in single-origin chocolate. The experience builds on the same approach used during the Wadworth collaboration: tasting slowly, comparing flavours and understanding why particular combinations work so well together.
Holly said: “The Wadworth collaboration really highlighted how exciting it is when you encourage people to properly taste and explore flavour. That inspired me to take the idea further with a new experience at Hollychocs HQ, where I can take people around the world through chocolate. We taste different origins, talk about the farmers and communities behind the cacao, how it is sourced and made, and how all of those things influence what you eventually taste in the chocolate. It’s about showing that chocolate can have just as much depth, provenance and story as beer, wine or coffee.”
The new experience gives visitors the opportunity to discover chocolate in a completely different way, combining flavour, science, sourcing and storytelling in a guided tasting hosted by The Chocolate Engineer herself.
The collaboration celebrates not only beer and chocolate, but the creativity, craftsmanship and quality being produced by independent businesses across Wiltshire.
Find out more about Wadworth through their website and follow them on Instagram.
Find out more about Hollychocs through their website and follow them on Instagram.
