Box size, liquid volume, ethanol concentration and congener spectrum of chocolates containing alcohol

Recent deliveries consisting of 85 boxes of chocolate assortments containing 82 different types of alcohol filled chocolates as well as 28 types of chocolates containing alcohol sold by the kilo, were examined as to their box size, liquid volume, ethanol concentration as well as the congener spectrum. The number of chocolates with alcohol varied from assortment to assortment between 4 and 80 with an average of 23 chocolates per box. The mean liquid volume was 3 ml per chocolate, the mean ethanol concentration was 13.1 %vol. The congener spectrum revealed high methanol and propanol concentrations as the filling usually consisted of fruit brandies. There have been cases when the driver's BAC was only marginally above the legal limit at the time of the incident and the driver then claims to have eaten large amounts of chocolates containing alcohol after the incident. The examination revealed that in these borderline cases, whether or not the chocolates were responsible for exceeding the limit could not be proven.