Houston speakeasy Case Chocolates opens with spirited tasting menu

Case Chocolates looks like an unassuming chocolate shop tucked into the Plant, the multidisciplinary space in Houston’s Second Ward. Inside, customers are greeted with a display of beautifully wrapped candies and luxe chocolates filled with orange blossom gin or sips of Old Fashioned. But push open a hidden door and Case’s world of chocolates gets much deeper.

Owner Casey McNeil, an energy entrepreneur and chocolatier, opened his chocolate shop and speakeasy Friday, July 19, featuring the first chocolate and spirits tasting menu of its kind in the country. With just 26 seats, Case’s chic speakeasy offers three rounds of half-cocktails carefully paired with rare chocolates, which are themselves filled with unique spirits. (Each chocolate contains between 2 and 5 percent alcohol, and is equivalent to about 20 seconds of a shot, McNeil says.)

The hour-long experience begins with an introduction and tasting of the special rotation of cacao used, most recently sourced from regions such as Costa Rica, Bolivia and Venezuela. “I noticed when I got into chocolate making that there was a lot of bad chocolate,” McNeil says. Since his training, his goal has been to showcase and highlight unique cacao from around the world, which, like wine, is infused with the terroir flavor of its region of origin, he says. The Bolivian Citrus Cacao, for example, has notes of grapefruit, lemon, vanilla and plum, flavors that pair well with Case’s tequila and gin cocktails. The Venezuelan Chocolate, a 65 percent cacao creation, has notes of bitter green coffee, orange peel and raisin that complement the whiskey and rum. Costa Rican dark chocolate, made with 74% cocoa, offers notes of blackberry, hazelnut and vanilla that bring a balancing note to the dessert.

At a recent tasting, Case’s Mandarin margarita was paired with chocolates filled with straight tequila and margarita; dessert included chocolates filled with a combination of bourbon and tawny port.

McNeil, who works in the energy sector by day, says he’d dreamed of opening a chocolate shop like Case for years, but it didn’t become a reality until a year and a half ago, when he began to seriously develop the idea. He spent six months traveling between Zurich, Switzerland, training with chocolatier Luis Amado and other mentors, and visiting cocoa farmers around the world who use sustainable practices. McNeil learned how to successfully encapsulate alcohol in chocolate using a gluten-free starch mold, a Swiss technique perfected by Rudolph Sprungli in the 1800s. A speakeasy concept quickly took shape. “I couldn’t imagine it any other way,” McNeil says.

Now available in stores and online with the option to ship nationwide, Case’s chocolates come in a variety of forms. There are classic bite-sized candies, eight-packs filled with bourbon, rum, gin or carajillo, packaged in boxes of eight, and the non-alcoholic variety, offered in flavors like strawberry yuzu matcha and pandan coconut, Case’s take on an Almond Joy made with pandan and almond. Packaged in a custom 3D-printed box shaped like a cacao pod, the special Buffalo Trace Antique Collection box features chocolates made with some of the world’s rarest whiskeys, and McNeil has also developed an “amplified” white chocolate filled with three grams of imperial caviar and topped with a gold flake.

McNeil says Case’s menu and offerings will continue to evolve. The chocolatier is working on developing Case’s non-alcoholic beverages. So far, they’ve had success with the Phony Negroni, which McNeil says tastes just like a real Negroni, and they’re working on developing non-alcoholic beverages that capture the essence of mezcal and tequila. The speakeasy also plans to host special tastings focused on rare whiskeys and spirits, and now offers a space for private events, for which menus can be customized.

Case Chocolates’ speakeasy is open by reservation only, with seating at 6:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday. The retail store is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday. 3401 Harrisburg Boulevard, Suite E, 77003.