Branson’s Chocolates

It is a good thing I live 300 miles away or I’d go there every day… and end up 500 lbs: D I love dark chocolate and they do not disappoint. Dark chocolate hazelnut clusters… OMG. And the little truffles – damn gotta start planning my next trip back. Its only been a few days and I’m already craving more…

Me and my boyfriend have walked by here a few times, and finally decided to try this place. We got a semi-​sweet peanut butter cup, and a small square of tiger butter fudge.
The chocolate itself was kind of disappointing. We are both foodies, and really picky about little things like texture and such. He said the peanut butter cup was really hard (like, hard to bite into) and the peanut butter was not smooth at all. it was chunky peanut butter… Everything should be smooth!
As for the tiger butter… much too peanut-​ey for my taste (I hate peanuts. But love peanut butter. There’s a difference, stop judging me).
The place is a pretty cute little shop, and you can see where they make everything, which is really neat. And the owner was there, and she was really nice. Everything was pretty decently priced, as well. No worse or better than what you would see in… say, a See’s store, or Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. But the product itself could be better… I think I will try this place one more time, but I will try their truffles (which are kind of pricey). Hopefully those are better.

Trying Branson’s chocolate for the first time reminded me of a story Garrison Keillor told about Pastor Ingqvist’s trip to Italy with his wife. At dinner, halfway through the mushroom soup, his wife said «I’m NEVER eating Campbell’s cream of mushroom soup again». That’s how I feel now; I will never eat a Hershey bar again now that I know how good chocolate can be.
I read about it in the paper and stopped by and picked up a variety… Peanut clusters, coconut clusters and peanut butter cups… All delectable. But the real stars here are the truffles! Absolutely the best sweets I’ve ever tasted. Tried the Amaretto, the espresso and the Chambord, all superbly balanced and textured. Treat yourself here, you deserve it.
This chocolate is so good, I heard that the Swiss are suing for damaging their national pride.

Branson’s is awesome! Absolutely delicious caramel chocolates, turtles, truffles and bars (the fruit and nut bar is our fav!). So reasonably priced, especially by Ashland standards. She’ll build gift baskets for you in any quantity you want — you should have seen my mother’s face on her birthday! :-)

Ashland’s very own Branson’s Chocolates are a little bit of heaven.
I was originally introduced to Branson’s by my wife when she came home from the Ashland Chocolate Festival a couple of years ago.
She arrived with a sampling of my favorites including milk chocolate peanut clusters, peanut butter cups and a spattering of other goodies, all delicious.
Recently they took out a booth in the Ashland Artisan Market I was reintroduced to and they have made it far to easy to acquire. Once a year at the chocolate festival was okay but having them so easily available is downright dangerous.
They offer mail order as well as being sold through a few local outlets, to the best of my knowledge they do not have a retail outlet at their factory.
Oh yeah, the no sugar added chocolates are every bit as good as their regular product and in some cases possibly better. I purchased no sugar added peanut cluster by mistake and actually prefer them over the regular ones.
Where to buy locally, from their website:
Retail Outlets
* Assorted Chocolates
Victoria’s Salon — 240 E Hersey St Ste 12, Ashland, OR 97 520, (541) 482‑0845
Loose Ends Hair Salon — 2400 Siskiyou Blvd, Ashland, OR 97 520, (541) 482‑0424
Ashland Artisan Emporium — 1670 Ashland Street, Ashland, OR 97 520, (541) 708‑0577
* Truffles
EnoTecha by EdenVale — 19 E Main St, Ashland, OR 97 520, (541) 482‑3377
South Stage Sellers — 125 S 3^rd St, Jacksonville, OR 97 530, (541) 899‑9120
* Chocolate Bars
Paddington Station — 125 E Main St, Ashland, OR 97 520, (541) 482‑1343
Ashland Springs Hotel — 212 E Main St, Ashland, OR 97 520, (541) 488‑1700
Stratford Inn — 555 Siskiyou Blvd, Ashland, OR 97 520, (541) 488‑2151