End-of-year stress levels are rising and the only solution we can come up with is chocolate: hot or cold, white or dark, straight or spiked. Medically, we’re pretty sure chocolate offsets all sorts of serious ailments, including holiday mall-shopping claustrophobia, end-of-semester anxiety, hangovers (why not?) and holiday-induced mood-swings. Of course, sharing chocolate with good friends and significant others is the best approach – so here are a few Montreal chocolate creations that are calling out your name (if you listen closely enough!)

Hot Chocolate @ Café Myriade, 1432 Mackay.
Café Myriade, an infamous and adorable café opened by entrepreneur and coffee enthusiast Anthony Benda in 2008, serves the most delicious hot chocolate we’ve ever tasted. A swirling glass vat of liquid milk chocolate sits by the cash register letting all clients see exactly what they are in for. Order with either water or milk (but get milk, duh!) and be prepared for the richest little beverage of your day. Around $4-5.

Milkshakes @ juliette & chocolat, with three locations on the Island.
Everyone worth their salt knows about juliette & chocolat – but do you know about their milkshakes!? Buried under extensive lists of luxury hot chocolate and fruit-topped crepes, this Montreal institution also offers a (very brief) selection of the tastiest, richest milkshakes you will ever, ever encounter. Served in tall 1950s diner-esque glasses, these dark chocolate, milk chocolate or white chocolate milkshakes (choose carefully!) are inherently the best idea you’ve had in a very long time. $6-7.

Southern Comfort-Spiked Hot Chocolate @ Your Apartment
Do the following: purchase a mickey of Southern Comfort at your local SAQ. Toss it in the freezer for an hour. Purchase a tin of Nestle hot chocolate from your local grocery store. Boil some water. Integrate all elements together in a mug while re-watching episodes of Peep Show and/or Modern Family. Repeat every evening until winter is over.

~ Tyler Yank | Photo by Amesis on Flickr