Beer Truffles

I still like to start my morning with a cup of freshly brewed coffee, a generous wedge of homemade quiche, and a friendly conversation at Banyan Tree Chocolate & Café. Tables bear handwritten “Reserved” signs that ensure the requisite Social Distancing and the café is as clean and welcoming as ever. Did I mention the Beer Truffles? Limited-edition “Beer in a Box” Truffles feature beer from four local breweries: Brew Life Brewing, Calusa Brewing, J’Dubs Brewing, and Naughty Monk Brewery. You can sample any one for $4 or walk away with a four-piece box for $15. I can tell you what everyone in my life will be receiving as gifts for the foreseeable future. “Naughty Monk ‘Hottest’ Hot Chocolate” combines dark chocolate with a chocolate stout infused with Carolina Reaper über-hot peppers. “J’Dubs Apple Jacked” features a liquid caramel made with stout aged in brandy barrels. The “Calusa Mountain & Sea” is a work of art that looks like an icy mountain range pictured from a great height and framed in a marble—this one contains barrel-aged stout infused with coffee, coconut, and hazelnuts, and is aged in rum barrels. Then there’s “The Dude” from Brew Life Brewing, which is a beer ganache made using “Dude, It’s Brown Beer.”

At Banyan Tree life is like a box of chocolates—but you get to choose what you’re gonna get.