Otherly

Chocolate without dairy used to have a habit of tasting faintly apologetic. You’d get a square of something worthy and dark that seemed more interested in proving a point than being enjoyable. Otherly takes a noticeably less serious approach to the whole thing.

Built around oat milk chocolate, the range leans playful without disappearing into novelty-shop territory. The bars are colourful, properly creamy and actually taste like somebody wanted people to eat them rather than merely admire the ethical credentials from a distance. There’s a softness to the texture that lands somewhere between modern specialty chocolate and the comforting end of confectionery aisle nostalgia.

The oat milk element works particularly well because it adds body without the slightly chalky finish some vegan chocolate can carry. Flavours tend to stay clean and rounded, with caramel sweetness, cocoa richness and occasional biscuit-like notes depending on the bar. Even the packaging looks like it belongs in a bottle shop fridge next to natural wine labels and brightly coloured sour beer cans, which probably isn’t accidental.

There’s also something quite refreshing about a brand that doesn’t spend every sentence shouting about disruption. Otherly feels more interested in making good chocolate that happens to be plant-based rather than turning the whole thing into a lecture. That alone earns goodwill.

It fits nicely into the modern world of thoughtful but unfussy food and drink. The sort of thing you pick up alongside a bottle of pét-nat or a mixed fermentation beer and accidentally finish before getting home.