20°N & 20°S

Fleurir ~ The Midwest Bar

 

 

 

Virginia chocolate from some Virginia pals for a Virginia girl. Thanks to Jeff Evans who sent this to me.  I may be a Masshole now, but I never forgot where I came from.

Jeff was nice enough to send up Fleurir bars in a big shipment of beer that was sent to us by Chuck Triplett. They had a good time at our Extreme Beer festival, and this was a very generous thank you. I have followed Fleurir on twitter checking out some of their truffle flavors like peanut butter and banana. They have been on my radar for a little while.

They are actually pretty funny too. Check out their "About Us" page.

Their blends and flavors on these regional inspired bars, in a way, remind of Chocolat Moderne. Different concepts as Chocolat Moderne is into art and art history, but the flavor blends with dried fruits and Valrhona chocolate blended bases is more what I was thinking. Although Fleurir is more artful in their packaging and their splatter painted molded bars.

 

 

The Midwest Bar

 

Type: Filled, blended bar.

Bean Varietal: N/A

Ingredients: Dark chocolate (cocoa bean, sugar, cocoa butter, soya lecithin), Milk chocolate (sugar, cocoa butter, whole milk powder, cocoa beans, soya lecithin), Michigan cherries, and black walnuts.

Sample Size: 75g or 2.7oz

 

Appearance: Deep dark brown color, standard non-monogrammed molding, very shiny, artful splatter paint design on the top surface of the bar, large visible walnuts and cherry fillings on the back side, Some drying by the walnuts, and some plastic matting marks on the top surface.

Score: 92

Snap: Good snap, mildly audible but firm, crumbly break lines.

Score: 90

Aroma: Soft aroma with mild smoky notes and nuts.

Score: 85

Taste: Sweet, a little tangy right up front, inky, and bitter cacao flavors, nutty, wood flavors, tart and tangy dried cherries, dry walnuts. Straight forward.

Score: 93

Texture: Smooth and hard up front, medium melt-time, nice chewy dried cherries, and crunchy walnuts.

Score: 91

 

I love the way this bar looks. Simple molding, even some pretty big plastic matting marks, but that could not detract from the brightness of the spattered paint design on top contrasting the dark brown color. Super shiny too.

Very straight forward bar. Bold Valrhona cacao with big woody flavors, mixed with nutty flavors and ink. I would be really awesome if I could identify the Valrhona in this bar. I am good, but not that good. Not yet anyway. And not with the fillings adding their own flavors.

The natural wood and nut flavors on the cacao are very different than the walnuts. The walnuts give added depth. They also do not dominate the bar because the cacao is so rich. I recently had a discussion about whether a chocolate maker should add more nuts to their candy bars. He said he was worried about the pecan flavor dominating the bar. I disagreed because it was the one flavor you were looking for and was sort of lacking. Also for textural reasons. But in this case, the walnuts, although they can be a more subtle flavored nut, prove me right. More is always better. The cherries don't even dominate this bar. It's all a nice harmony. The cherries give a nice tart bite, and then a textural change with chewy on top of the crunchy nuts. But they are present themselves and still leave the chocolate flavors as the dominant feature of the bar.

I find the walnut flavors and the difference in the nuttiness on the chocolate fun to taste and the best part as far as thinking in depth about this bar. They are so different. There were some lingering inky flavors and bitterness, but the sugars balanced this bar nicely as well as the dry nuts, and the tangy and tart cherries.

I hope the Midwest is happy with this bar because it tastes good. There is not a lot of guff with with bar. Just a pretty looking bar and a nice balance of flavors. Full flavors, but straight forward. The only thing weak about this was the aroma. Virtually nothing there but a little smokiness, and walnuts. Not very strong or dynamic.

 

Final Score: 90.2

   score
  B+

Mast Brothers ~ Brooklyn Blend 73%

 

 

 

Mast Brothers Brooklyn Blend 73%

Lovely packaging. Meat-packing paper that looks like a southern quilt of patch work of their other wrappers. They really do pick the best papers for their packaging.

No listing on what beans were used for this blend. I should be able to guess by the taste, but I am rather miffed that their minimalist website has zero information about their products. Don't get me wrong, I love the Mast Brothers. I just wish basic information was provided. It's a blended bar so how about telling me which blends instead of this generic description on the back.

 

We have brought all of our favorite beans from around the world to create our first house blend. A balanced chocolate with hints of red wine, tobacco, and plum.

 

Are they suggesting they used every bean in rotation for their origin bars, or just their favorites? Maybe I am being too technical here, but it does help knowing some of the origins so you can understand certain flavor profiles and why certain flavors may or may not have worked. And don't tell me it's an industry secret either. That would be lame. Perhaps, the patch work paper is telling me which beans are in it?

 

Brooklyn Blend, 73%

 

Type: Blended bittersweet, 73%

Bean Varietal: Unknown, blend

Ingredients: Cacao and cane sugar.

Sample Size: 2.5oz

 

Appearance: Nice shiny surface, non-monogrammed molding, slightly ashy on the back with some minor particle matter on the back, but very minimal. Great shape.

Score: 93

Snap: Medium snap quality, a slight dull thud sound mixed with a mildly crisp snapping sound, crumbly break lines.

Score: 90

Aroma: Very subtle aroma. A little inky, some mild charred notes, a little tart, and soft smoke.

Score: 87

Taste: Sweet, astringent, tangy, slightly sour, fruity, cherries, citrus, wood, ink, tar, earthy, buttery biscuit finish.

Score: 92

Texture: Gritty, medium melt-time, drying and cloying on the palate.

Score: 83

 

Much better appearance and flavor than the previous reviewed Moho River. Shiny surface, and no streaking on the backside. Just a tiny bit of particles.

The aroma and texture were the weakest things about this bar. It's really so subtle and soft. Not a lot of dynamic there on the aroma. The texture was overly drying, cloying, and gritty. It started off smooth due to the molding and I hoped it stayed that way, but it really opened up gritty. Not a fan of stone grinding. I should say stone grinding that doesn't finish the job. I have had bars from Mast that are texturally fantastic. But sometimes you get a miss. This is a miss.

The flavor is strong. Big and fruity. There is definitely Madagascar in this bar with th bright citrus and acidic notes and cherries in the fruits. There is also some ink and big wood flavors. I think the earthiness is either from the Dominican Republic beans or something coastal in Northern Venezuela. Something that has those funky ink, char, and tar flavors. Those flavors are present too. But the fruits win on this bar. And the lingering buttery biscuit notes. It's just unbalanced with the acidity and astringency.

The flavors listed on the bar were once again not what I tasted. I didn't get plums, or tobacco. Red wine maybe with it's fruitness, drying texture, and acidity. But that wasn't really it. No influencing either with just reading and suggesting the words. That can happen which is another reason why I don't like flavors listed on bars.

I have had this bar fresh from the source and sat at the Radegast German Beer Hall next door and enjoyed it with some Munich Dunkels with it. I have done the same with their Occumare too. It's a wonderful experience. But better to eat it right there on the spot. When the chocolate is a mere hours old, not old enough have fully breathed yet, and the beers are cold, malty, and biscuit-y to help tone down that astringency.

I am beginning to worry about the Mast Brothers and their consistency issues. There seems to be a hallmark with acidity and astringent bars. It's not a good hallmark to have. I fear they are creating way too many new products, new bars from new origins without addressing these technical marks. You can get far on the fact that most people don't understand where it's a technical flaw or a desired effect like the smoke in the Papua New Guinea. But it's not going to last for long with other bean-to-bar producers who are effectively producing flawless chocolate. I praise and commend the Mast Brothers. I admire them greatly and was one of their original fans and enamored with their products. But as my palate has grown and expanded, so have my eyes or my palate rather, been opened to the undeniable flaws all over their products. I need them to slow down and tweak, tweak, tweak their recipes and start refining their ways. They could be the American masters if they focused a little bit more on their classics, even this house blend. Less grittiness, less acidity, less astringency. More rich flavors, more true flavors of the cacao that's not being trounced by the aforementioned issues.

 

Final Score: 89

   score
    B

Patric Chocolate ~ Salty Signature Seventy

 

 

It's been a long time for me and my old pal, Alan McClure. Singing his praises behind every chocolate conversation. "I know that guy, he is a cool dude, and he is one of the few who truly gets it and creates truly good chocolate in this country." Truly!

Not too thrilled with the new packaging. Though it's hardly new now. He used to have much more sophisticated packaging, albeit a little same-y to the other bars out there. My homie has gone a little hipster on me. But whatever my opinions are, it's working. New products are being created, new collaborations, and new people out there talking about this fine American-made bean-to-bar chocolate.

I had a go with one of his newer creations called PBJ OMG. As silly as that lame name is, it ends being exactly what it is. He blended peanut butter into one of his more jammy/fruity bars of Madagascar chocolate to create a peanut butter and natural jelly flavored bar. It's fucking exceptional. I didn't review it, but I ordered it again with a promise to this blog to have that review up soon.

I was also lucky enough to get my hands on Deep Ellum Brewing Co.'s Double Cherry Chocolate Double Brown Stout. It's really a Baltic Porter all suped-up with Patric's Madagascar nibs and cherries. It's fucking delicious. Extremely limited edition, 300 bottles made, and my lucky ass got TWO of them. Thanks to the kind people at Deep Ellum.

There see what I've gone and done? Two F bombs in one review and in praise.

This review is about Patric's signature bar of blended cacao, and flavored with exotic sea salts. Limited edition bar with only 950 made. I bought four bars. I gave one away so far to my favorite restaurant owner, reviewing this one, and sitting on two to share with worthy friends.

 

On a foundation of our incomparable Signature 70% blend, we have sprinkled Prussian Blue salt, for sparkle, and Bali Sea Salt, for crunch. We sourced both of these salts with the advice and help of The Meadow in NYC, home of the world's best Selmelier: Mark Bitterman, author of Salted: A Manifesto on the World's Most Essential Mineral.

 

Salty Signature Seventy

 

Type: Flavored bittersweet, 70%

Bean Varietal: Blend

Ingredients: Cacao, cane sugar, cocoa butter, and salt.

Sample Size: 65g or 2.3oz

 

Appearance: Signature monogrammed splatter paint custom molding, Matted finish from the molding, back surface lightly sprinkled with salt. A little dry looking on the backside, and flow marks from filling.

Score: 87

Snap: Excellent snap. Very firm, crisp, nice loud snap, and clean break lines.

Score: 94

Aroma: Softer aroma than expected. Pen ink, a little rubber and char, soft roasted cacao, slightly floral, and some tiny hints of blueberries. Really faint though.

Score: 91

Taste: Salt up front, strong fruity flavors, tar, pen ink, a little tart, sweet sugars, berries, coffee flavors, wood, floral spiciness.

Score: 95

Texture: Nice gritty salt, then it opens up to a perfect medium melt time. Just long enough for all of the big huge flavors to take center stage. Creamy with a slight drying effect.

Score: 91

 

Aside from the gorgeous salt, and the shine that barely peeks out of the monogrammed molding, I am just not in love with the new molding. I liked it better with it was a tablet with monogrammed P's. It was much simpler, and more beautiful. Had better shine and sophistication.

Don't hate me Alan.

I am positive this bar is blended with Madagascar and Rio Caribe. All the hallmarks are there. Huge jammy fruits from the Madagascar, and tar, pen ink, and rubber from the Rio Caribe. Rio Caribe is by far and away not my favorite region for cacao, but Patric's stood out as the most robust and layerd versions of that origin. And blended with the Madagascar, it really softens up the Rio Caribe, but it doesn't deflect it's own big huge flavors. I am not sure if anything else was blended into this bar. These two origins dominate, but I would like to know where that insanely good spicy floral note comes from. 

The palate is totally dominated immediately by gorgeous salt, but then it melts away allowing a huge roller coaster of flavors to take over. The dank and dirty Rio Caribe flavors of pen ink, char, and rubber, then big bold sugars dominate the bar and huge fruits pop out, then this gorgeous floral spiciness takes over. It's simply amazing that last part. Best part of the entire bar in fact.

The aroma is fairly soft leaving only the less desirable aromas of Rio Caribe coming through. It doesn't leave any impression of the roller coaster about to invade your palate.

At first, I thought the salt sprinkled on top might have been a little skimpy just based on appearance. But tasting it, it was well balanced. You forget how big some of these salts can be and it ends up being the first huge flavor impact the palate is fronted with. Well balanced with extremes though. Big salt, big fruit, and bold sugars. They each take their turn presenting themselves. A well balance of the blended cacaos.

I freaking loved this bar. Probably one of the best bars I have had all year. No Bullshit. The letter grade is only reflective of the molding and mildly about the aroma and texture. This bar is still one of the best tasting bars I have had in a while.

 

Final Score: 91.6

   score
  B+

Weiss ~ Kacinkoa 85%

 

 

 

French chocolatiers since 1882.

Via the Weiss website and translated from Google:

The young Alsatian chocolatier confectioner Eugene Weiss founded his chocolate factory in Saint-Etienne in 1882. He is the inventor of the Top Chocolate, or the art of assembling the various soils beans to create a chocolate aroma of great subtlety and rare regularity. He also became a master in the preparation of praline he imagines in his famous Nougastelles always manufactured to the original recipe.

Chocolaterie Weiss is one of the last French chocolate to control the entire manufacturing: selection of beans, assembly, roasting the old to the gas ball, crushing, cocoa grinder, mixer, grinding and conching (the conching is the last essential step that will give the chocolate all its finesse and smoothness).

Complex aromas, slightly sweet, silky and fine quoits, a rare long finish: discover why chocolate lovers recognize Weiss eyes closed.

Weiss provides an authentic chocolate of rare purity, pure cocoa butter, no added vegetable fats, and offers mostly chocolate candy hazoïque without preservatives or coloring.

Weiss uses only beans of noble origins from the best vineyards in the world: Venezuela, Ecuador, Trinidad ...

Weiss chooses the best beans high, knowing the combine, according to the desired mixtures, the Trinitario cocoa from Trinidad & Tobago, the Venezuelan Rio Caribe Forastero or Ivory Coast, whose power is needed to spice up some specialties.

Weiss is as uncompromising in the selection of its raw materials. The ingredients in the composition of confectionery are rigorously selected pod natural vanilla, honey Pilat, almonds of Valencia in Spain and Marconas, Piedmont hazelnuts and Rome, oranges South of the Iberian Peninsula and apricot Luberon , Ceylon tea and jasmine tea, pure Arabica coffee, old kirsch, cognac ... and, the highlight, the 22-carat gold that covers the famous Or Palets

"My passion, my art.
Chocolate as love
Is an eternal source of inspiration
Rich of the noblest emotions. "

Eugene Weiss (1858-1939)

 

 

 

Kacinkoa 85%

 

Type: Bittersweet, 85%

Bean Varietal: Blended

Ingredients: Cocoa, sugar, cocoa butter, GMO-Free soy lecithin.

Sample Size: 100g or 3.5oz

 

Appearance: Patterned molding without monogram, deep dark brown, ashy, a little dusty with light sugar bloom, particle matter all over the bar from rough handling either from store in Quebec City where purchased, or in shipping, lined molding marks on the back surface.

Score: 87

Snap: Excellent snap quality. Firm snap, nice and audible, clean break lines.

Score: 92

Aroma: Big aroma of almonds, vanilla, coconuts, smoke, and aged wood.

Score: 93

Taste: Cocoa-y, almonds, wood, spicy, earthy, *moldy, deeply bitter, cinnamon, tart, some slight hints of grapes. Lingering but very faint hints of tar from retro-olfaction and hints of notebook paper.

Score: 92

Texture: Creamy with a medium melt-time, but drying and a little bit gritty with some large particles, and chalky.

Score: 86

 

I really liked the molding. Aside from the bloom and particles, the pattern was nice and good size small tablets for tasting.

This was some pretty funky chocolate. I kind of liked it because of that. I don't know for sure if it's flawed chocolate or not, but the taste was very different than what I am used to. Like the so-called flaws of the Papua New Guinea beans at the moment. Some people don't know what to do with the smoked beans, and others handle it just fine. I like it when things taste different. This had big coconut, almonds and dried wood flavors, but more curiously were the earthy moldy flavors with grape and tar flavors on the finish. *I know that sounds bad to say mold flavors, but it didn't find it bad. It wasn't moldy chocolate, it just had very deep rustic earthy flavors. Like the time the Mast Brothers had a bar that smelled exactly like potting soil.

This is very deep chocolate as it's 85%, big strong, musty, and earthy with pleasant almonds and coconuts in it. Very different. I don't know the ratios of this blend, but I'd say African beans give the almonds and coconut flavors. Maybe some hints of Rio Caribe in this but small traces of it for the tar and deep bitter factor. I can't say for sure what makes it so earthy.

Very interesting. I would like to take a bar of this to wine tasting and try and find a good fruity counterpart to offset it's deep bitterness and earthiness. Normally I would suggest a beer, but I want to see what this funky thing would be like with wine.

 

Final Score: 90

   score
    B

PB Crave ~ Razzle Dazzle

 

 

Razzle Dazzle

Raspberry, dark chocolate, white chocolate, honey flavored peanut butter.

 

Okay so this review might be a little random for Chocolate Advocate, but there is chocolate in this product so it totally counts. Who am I to say no? Once again we start our story with an, "I am just kidding if you're just kidding. But I am serious if you're serious" post. Random people following each other on twitter and then I happen to see a tweet about sending out samples to bloggers. I am not going to lie, I asked about it and the next thing I know, not one, but four jars of peanut butter ended up on my door step. Insanely generous! They asked if I blogged, and I said yes but only about chocolate but this totally counts. They told me all of their products have chocolate, hence the four jars being sent out.

 

I was worried about it at first. It boasts as an all natural peanut butter. I have issues with natural peanut butter. It's always wrong. It's never salty enough, never creamy enough, always overly oily and then the rest of the peanut butter ends up dried out because of that separation. Commercialized peanut butter is the only form of food blasphemy I willfully except. That and the McDonald's McRib. Bring on the hydrogenated oils, sugars, salt, and pure processed grossness. Just so long as that texture is silky smooth and can last through four nuclear holocausts in my pantry, I will be all set.

But honestly this peanut butter was a huge surprise. Not only did it taste really good, all the flavors worked out wonderfully, but the texture was smooth. It did have a little bit of oils on top, but it wasn't swimming in it and it didn't completely separate. It just needed a little bit of stirring up. But again, smooth, right balance of salt, a little sweeter than a normal peanut butter and a minor lingering raspberry extract taste that hung on longer than it should, but other wise a fantastic natural peanut butter. I am so happy I can finally enjoy and all natural peanut butter.

 

Not only that, but the flavors meant no jam necessary. See I like my peanut butter in the morning time on toasted English muffins. Normally I put PB&J on it, but this just needed a little schmear of the good stuff and that's it. Honey, white chocolate, chocolate, and raspberry. Seriously, how can you go wrong?

One other thing to note, a minimum of 2% of the sales of each jar of peanut butter goes to help Project Peanut Butter. Please read more about it here.

Cookie Nookie, Choco Choco, and Coco Banana flavors will be coming up as soon I can get through one jar at a time.

Galler ~ Noir Intense 70%

 

 

** Archived notes.

 

Chocolate I picked up in Bruges while traveling on the Bon Beer Amsterdam/Belgium Beer Boat cruise. I gave Galler a second chance after having a not-so-pleasant visit in their Brussels shop in Central Place in 2010. The customer service in the Bruges shop was phenomenal. Knowledgeable staff, generous with samples, and recommended their dark bars for review. I was so happy to leave their shop with redeemed feelings.

I don't know where the origin of this chocolate comes from but it reminds me of something from Africa. Ghana or Ivory Coast. I don't know for sure but I am guessing that might be where this cacao is from. It's very frustrating with so little information given. There is a lot of detail crammed on the the back of the bar about ingredients and nutrition content in multiple languages, but zero information about the beans. And nothing on the website either.

 

 

Noir Intense 70%

 

Type: Bittersweet, 70%

Bean Varietal: Unknown

Ingredients: Cocoa paste, sugar, cocoa butter, soya lecithin, natural vanilla aroma.

Sample Size: 80g or 2.8oz

Lot #: L2661111

 

Appearance: Long and wide tablet, long rectangle tablets,  deep dark color, monogrammed molding, matted surface from signature molding, odd circular pattern on top surface, very shiny bar on the back side.

Score: 90

Snap: Good firm snap, crisp snapping sound, a little crumbly on the break lines, but very decent snap for a thin-ish bar.

Score: 92

Aroma: Very potent aroma. Heavy vanilla, smoke, peanuts, and almonds.

Score: 94

Taste: Rich, bitter, cocoa powder, very bitter, low acids, buttery, peanuts, char, toast.

Score: 83

Texture: A little hard and waxy, but is relatively smooth, has a drying quality to it, medium melt-time.

Score: 87

 

Odd bar of chocolate. The aroma was very strong and fragrant, but the flavor doesn't quite match it's aroma. The flavor is completely dominated by bitters. It completely coats and dominates the palate. It's starts off with a good balance of sugars and cocoa-y powder flavors, and then the bitter over takes the palate. The only thing really coming through is some peanuts on the finish and roasted cacao flavors like char and toast.

It wasn't a bad bar of chocolate, it was just deceptive and misleading with it's dominate aroma. I wanted the vanilla and sugars to come out more, but the bitters really overtake everything. I think this could have been more more then it was. A better balance of the sweet and floral notes and the rich nutty flavors with the bitters.

What is vanilla aroma anyway? In terms of an ingredient for chocolate.

Final Score: 89.2

 

   score
    B

Xocolatl de David + Cochon 555

 

 

It happened one drunken night at The Hawthorne in Kenmore sq. I demanded to my husband that we go out to Island Creek Oyster Bar for some amazing seafood and oysters. It's one of my favorite restaurants. The customer service cannot be beat there. While waiting for a table, we slipped over to Hawthorne's for a pregame drink before dinner. Our table was called in 5 minutes so we vowed to come back.

When we came back, it was quite packed but we were able to get arm chars in the back room with a private bar. We shared the area with some cool people whom I later found out were the owners of the Cochon 555, Brady Lowe and his awesome girlfriend Heather Craig. Cochon 555 is a traveling circus of pork gluttony and bourbon debauchery. I kid. They are a traveling festival working with premier chefs in various cities around the U.S., hosting competitions and food challenges revolving around pork and educating the public about heritage breed pigs and small local pork farmers. 5 chefs, 5 pigs, and 5 wine makers. We'd love to see 5 beer makers too. One day.....

They liked that we were from BeerAdvocate and that we like a good drink or cocktail aside from beer. Brady introduced Todd to the world of Mezcal and I introduced him to the world of Vieux Carre's. It was then that he asked Todd if he would like to be a judge for the event held in Boston. This was on a Friday night and the event was on Sunday. Score!!! The Boston event featured Tim Cushman of O Ya, Jamie Bissonnette of Toro and Coppa, Barry Maiden of Hungry Mother, Barbra Lynch of Menton, and Nookie Postal from Fenway Park.

 

Table toppers and O Ya's menu printed on pork skin.

 

Bourbon, pork, bourbon, pork, wine, pork, lard ice cream, bourbon, and then these chocolate bars handed to me at the post party event.

 

 

Whipped lard truffle with Valrhona Milk Chocolate from O Ya.

 

Jamie Bissonette easily took winner of this event, he is currently hot right now with his impressive James Beard nominations and Chopped victory. He is like Hansel, so hot right now. I personally loved it all but found Hungry Mother to be the best display of the pork but I wasn't judging. The idea of the event is showcasing heritage breed pigs, and  head to tail challenges. HM's offerings were not about pizazz but very much about the true flavors of the pork. But in a subjective world and being pitted against some insane culinary heavy weights in this town, it wasn't an easy challenge. Jamie dropped the bomb using Asian street food with pork after recently having been on a trip to Asia and it pretty much slayed everyone.

 

 

Hungry Mother plating up for the onslaught of hungry pork lovers. HM's Lard Ice Cream Sundae with smoked chocolate sauce, crispy pork rind, and charred sorghum marshmallow.

 

So, after all that eating and drinking (Todd judging and my eating the offerings with the farmers of the beloved pigs we noshed on all day), we still had a post party to attend. This is where Heather handed me a shit ton of bars. She said, "Here! I know you like chocolate. Take it." You don't have to twist my arm. And I haven't had anything from Xocolatl before. Score! It's also chocolate with pork in it. Well, one has caviar, but it's a creative play on words. Ham and Eggs.

 

Xocolatl de David is the brain child of David Briggs, formally the sous chef of Park Kitchen in Portland, Oregon. David has previous judged Cochon 555 and created these bars for the event. And is one of the sponsors of the event. He also has a wonderful collection of pig-infused products.

 

Country Ham

 

Type: Filled, bittersweet, 72%

Bean Varietal: Nacional

Ingredients: Cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter, vanilla, Benton's County Ham, fleur de sel.

Sample Size: 2.2oz or 62g

 

Appearance: Flat, no pattern, non-monogrammed simple molding, streaking on the back with matting on the front side. Deep dark brown color, a little dry looking, shiny on the top surface despite matting (my camera didn't conveying that), and lumpy with ham bits.

Score: 79

Snap: Firm snap, decent crisp sound, clean break lines.

Score: 91

Aroma: Dried wood, savory, ham, salt cure, dried peanuts.

Score: 92

Taste: Sweet and salty, a little smoky, salty cured ham, tangy acids, robust wood flavors, fruits.

Score: 95

Texture: Very smooth and silky chocolate texture, fast melt-time, crispy bits of ham.

Score: 95

 

Aside from a boring looking mold and streaky appearance, this bar is anything but that. It has a very straight forward aroma and flavor. Sweet and salty, a pot heads heads dream of a chocolate bar. Sweet up front with sugars in the chocolate, and then salt from the cured ham and fleur de sel. Ecuador cacao with hints of peanuts on the aroma, but hard to notice on the flavor. Some fruits in there too but they are caught in the middle. It's really between two flavors, salty ham and bold wood-flavored cacao. Most nuances present themselves, but really get trounced by the salt. But when the focus is the ham, it balances with the bold cacao very well. There isn't much to dissect with this bar except it tastes awesome. It's part of that every growing throw-bacon/ham/pork-into-everything trend and I do not mind it one bit. This is a perfect creation for something like Cochon 555.

What I really like is how smooth and silky the texture of the chocolate is. Having recently debated the merits and flaws of what is considered to be waxy chocolate, this might fall into that line for some people, the way some have described waxy as super soft and chewy. I don't know if that's a bad thing. And I get a different impression of what I think waxy is like. Think hard surf wax versus soft hair wax. To me waxy is the hard surf wax. Other factors contribute to a hard texture, but there is a definite chew that makes it waxy. This is why chocolate makers are skeptical of soy lecithin and how much cocoa butter to use. To me this was soft and delectable with it's fast melt-time from the cocoa butter. I don't find it waxy at all no matter which side you tend to fall on. I find it quite nice and a good contrast to the crispy, salty ham.

Best of all, they didn't go skimpy with the ham. You hear that Vosges? You can actually put pieces of ham and bacon in your products and still get good results. Stop being cheap and charging a mint for a product with little or no meat in it!

 

Final Score: 90.4

   score
  B+

 

 

Eggs (Black River Caviar)

 

Type: Filled Bittersweet, 68%

Bean Varietal: Unknown, probably a wild hybrid.

Ingredients: Cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter, Black River Caviar, sea salt.

Sample Size: 2.2oz or 62g

 

Appearance: Flat, no pattern, non-monogrammed simple molding, streaking and a little ashy on the back side with air bubbles, shiny (camera didn't really convey that) but matted markings on the top surface, deep dark brown color.

Score: 79

Snap: Good firm snap, small snap sound, a little crumbly on the break lines.

Score: 89

Aroma: Briney sea water, ocean, floral jasmine, roasted cacao, lightly smoky.

Score: 94

Taste: Sweet sugars, roasted cacao, then salt, and very briney, metallic-y caviar taste, jasmine, berries, pen ink, and wood, some smoked characters hidden in there too. Like smoked salmon.

Score: 92

Texture: Creamy, silky texture, fast melt-time, crunchy caviar and large salt crystals.

Score: 95

 

This one is a bit of a mixed bag for me. If you love caviar, then you will love this bar. For me it was a good balance of a more neutral chocolate origin and salty, briney, fish tastes. I didn't think it was perfect but that's also because I am not very big on caviar. But as for the balance, the caviar did not over take this despite the nose. It didn't over power it and the chocolate flavors definitely made an appearance.

It opens up sweet and soft, it hits you with sugars up front and then there is course salt, sea water brininess, and a metallic fishy caviar taste. It doesn't last long, but it is definitely noticeable. It's a big pop. Then the chocolate lets off some very nice jasmine flavors, almost as if it's trying to clean up the brine, and some fruity berries, and a little smoke which gives off an almost smoked salmon effect. But no lingering fish tastes.

The texture was once again a creamy and fast melt-time, but not like the Country Ham. This bar was much more firm but still maintained the same integrity of a silky smooth texture. I like what they are doing with these textures.

I think this is pretty cool for chocolate. It's definitely a novelty and the balance was right with this Bolivian cacao versus briny caviar. A different take on sweet and salty. Just a little odd match up with jasmine, berries, and sugars, and salty, briney, caviar.

 

Final Score: 89.8

 

   score
    B

 

 

 

Ibérico de Bellota

 

Type: Flavored bittersweet, 68%

Bean Varietal: Unknown, probably some wild hybrid.

Ingredients: Cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter, Ibérico de Bellota (pork) lard, fleur de sel.

Sample Size: 2.2 oz or 62g

 

Appearance: Same streaky back surface with the plain and flat non-monogrammed molding, shiny surface, but matting on the front, very soft to touch. melting in my fingers with nano-seconds of touching. Softer brown color.

Score: 79

Snap: Very dull, very soft, very light popping sound almost inaudible, and it bends before it snaps. Having said all that, it still managed to produce a fairly decent snap giving the make up of this bar.

Score: 79

Aroma: Roasted nuts, salty, mild pen ink, buttery, berries, smoke.

Score: 93

Taste: Sweet sugars, peppery, savory, a light oily pork taste, salt, pepperoncini, wood, fruity, nutty.

Score: 94

Texture: Silky smooth, creamy, fast melt-time.

Score: 96

 

Basically this is a lard chocolate bar. The lardo adds almost no flavor to this chocolate sans some savory and very transparent oily pork flavors. It's so subtle you almost don't know it's there. It sits on top of every taste point like an oil slick on water, reminding you it's there but not really interfering with the chocolate. There is some salt mixed in and you then taste the lard more, but it's almost like it subdues the chocolate flavors. Where as sugars tend to enhance fruity flavors on chocolate, the salt in this case is holding it down a bit. It is a more mild and subtler chocolate, but this makes it seem almost like it's an overly delicate porcelana bean.

It's very sweet and sugary right up front, then there is a bit of black pepper flavors, nutty, fruity and woody and then this oily taste followed by some tangy pepperoncini tastes. You'd hardly notice the lardo at all without the salt to remind you it's there.

It's very interesting. I don't know why but I was expecting bigger PORK flavor with this Spanish ham lardo. It mostly adds to the insanely good and silky smooth creamy texture. There is a hint or a trace of the lardo here and there but ultimately it's just traces on a subdued bar of chocolate. It tames it and then sort of haunts it like a ghost. Not to be convoluted here, but it's very odd and interesting.

I like it very much. It has salt, peanuts, pepperoncini, black pepper, fruits, and pork flavors. Very dynamic for one bar, yet still soft and still fairly delicate. It deserves a much higher score. The appearance was weak though and the snap was well, it was bad. I had a hard time deciding what to do with the snap score. In the end I judged it for what it was like the other bars. Even though this bar is double-edged with soft cocoa butters and lard, it had a better than expected snap too. I thought it would be a lot softer considering it begins melting the second your skin touches it.

 

Final Score: 88.2

 

   score
    B

 

Just for the sake of argument, my digital camera was not showing the shine on these bars, but I was able to get a good shot with my iPhone so you could see what I mean. There is a great reflection of my lamp in the shine.

 

B.T. McElrath ~ Salty Dog Chocolate Bar

 

 

B.T. McElrath, Minneapolis, MN.

I used to sell B.T. McElrath products while working for Formaggio Kitchen a few years ago. I haven't seen their products in a while so it was nice stumbling upon them at Beacon Hill Chocolates. The Salty Dog sounded like just right thing too. Butter Toffee pieces in dark chocolate with with salt. God bless sweet and salty products. 

This is a really cute about page they have set up on their website.

 

A beautiful innocent 19 year-old server caught the eye of the chef de cuisine at a country inn on the Mississippi River. So he tossed a few peas and carrots at her. Stunned, she retaliated with ice cubes. Duly impressed by her quick response and sure aim, the chef married her. And together, they started a thriving artisanal chocolate company in 1996.

Meet Christine: Wife, Partner, Visual Designer, and Chief Taster.
“Brian opened my eyes to the world of cuisine, and fine chocolates. He’s a true artist in every sense of the word. From the freshest whole ingredients, he blends and balances flavors and colors with natural finesse.”

Meet Brian: Meticulous Artisan Chocolatier, Visionary, (still impishly young and doesn’t care about age; a Libra through and through, balance is his watchword in taste and in Life). A graduate of the California Culinary Academy, Brian worked fastidiously as a chef for 18 years at nationally recognized restaurants, bistros, hotels and clubs in the Midwest including the Nicollet Island Inn and Interlachen Country Club.

Read more about them here. 

 

At first when looking up their products, there wasn't much listed on the product pages about the chocolate being use. But luckily they have a pretty good FAQ page. 

 

Are B.T. McElrath Chocolatier products organic?

Cacao trees, grown only in the tropical rainforests, are part of a wide variety of plants, animals, and insects which provide a complex, natural pest-management system. On family farms, pesticides are expensive to buy and difficult to apply to cacao trees, making most cacao farms inherently organic.

While organic certification verifies farming practices, it does not ensure the quality of the cacao and/or the fermentation of the beans, two factors that fundamentally affect the flavor of chocolate. We are ensured of the quality of our chocolate ingredients through the well established relationships with our trusted suppliers, which go back for generations.

What kind of chocolate do you use?

Our chocolate products are sourced from premier chocolate makers in the U.S., Europe, and South America.

Our proprietary 70% dark chocolate blend is made exclusively for B.T. McElrath Chocolatier by Guittard Chocolate Company of Burlingame, California, under their E. Guittard family of products. We find this relationship forwards our mutual commitment to innovation, tradition, and a sustainable global community.

Our proprietary 40% milk chocolate blend is created in our kitchens with chocolate sourced from Wilbur Chocolate Company of Lititz, PA, one of America’s oldest manufacturers of fine chocolate, as well as several European manufacturers.

What is your policy regarding socially responsible sourcing?

Our commitment to quality extends to supporting global efforts towards sustainability and partnering with suppliers who are pioneers of socially responsible business practices which match those of B.T. McElrath Chocolatier.

Our chocolate suppliers are members of the World Chocolate Foundation (WCF), Cocoa Livelihoods Program (CLP), UTZ certified, Rainforest Alliance, and are licensed by Fairtrade Labeling Organization.

Our suppliers are actively involved at origin and purchase through agents selected by the farmers and in some cases bought through direct relationships with the farmers. A premium price well over market value is paid. These are long standing relationships and we are proud to be a part of that global supply chain.

 

 

Salty Dog Chocolate Bar

 

Type: Bittersweet, 70% filled.

Varietal: Unknown

Ingredients: Dark Chocolate (chocolate liquor, sugar, cocoa butter, soy lecithin), toffee (pure cane sugar, butter, soy lecithin, bicarbonate of soda, salt, natural flavor), sea salt.

Sample Size: 3oz or 85g. 

 

Big chocolate-y aroma of almonds, butter, smoke, berries, tobacco and hints of nuts. Nice deep dark brown chocolate color, shiny surface on a simple molded tablet with fat tabs. Simple monogrammed molding with some minor scratches on the surface. 

Salty and rich dark chocolate. Smoky flavors on the chocolate with a little bit of char, pen ink, and berries, that comes through even with the salt. Virtually no toffee to speak of, however. Pretty disappointed with that since that sweet and salty combo was what I was really looking for. Small, skimpy specks of it scattered throughout the bar.

I was hoping for that crunch factor with the toffee, but it came from the waxy chocolate. While it was smooth chocolate once it sat on the tongue and began to open, it was way too hard to bite into. The molding has everything to do with that leaving overly large and fat tabs. The salt lent for some nice crunch for a second until it dissolves on the tongue. 

Despite the disappointing lack of toffee bits, the chocolates flavor and aroma was good and strong. Lot's of good flavor characters in it and a good balance with the salt. The only issue here is lack of toffee and a hard texture. 

This could have been so much more had the Toffee been actually present. The chocolate was good and rich, and the salt was a good balance. I really need chocolate makers to start putting put products that are what they say they are on the packaging. If it's toffee, then there needs to be significant toffee in it. This is my main issue with Vosges skimping people on the bacon in their bacon products. You don't put it in there, or you go really skimpy on it, then you get a low score for misrepresentation.

I've never had this problem before with B.T. McElrath. I don't know what's changed. Hopefully this was just a fluke. It's been known to happen. But for now, C-. 

 

  score
 C-

 

Artisan du Chocolat ~ Vietnam 72% Limited Edition

 

 

 

**Archived Notes

 

Finally an origin that I am not that familiar with. Sometimes there is a game to find new regions or unexploited regions for cocoa growing and be different or a step ahead of the curve. I am not against this race. It's a win win for chocolate lovers. "Why no, I haven't had a bar of chocolate with beans grown in Vietnam. Do tell." 

 

[Image Via Infoplease]

 

Via their website:

In Vietnam, small entrepreneurial farmers are remaking cocoa history by successfully farming fine cocoa commercially for the first time since the French period (late 19th century), making this batch of ground cocoa beans a precious and rare find. We chose well fermented and dried beans that morph into a silky chocolate with notes of raisin and oats. Surprisingly mellow at the start, this chocolate melts with a long and slightly peppery bitter finish. We meticulously select our raw ingredients for their flavour and wholesomeness: carefully fermented ground criollo and trinitario beans from chosen regions, pure cocoa butter and cane sugar. We mix, conche and refine each batch in our production in Kent. We make our own chocolate with love, devotion and the sole intent to bring you great chocolate
• Weight (e) 45g
• Shelf life 3 months
• Cocoa beans, cane sugar, cocoa butter, soya lecithin
• Contains soya. May contain traces of nuts, sesame, milk and gluten.

 

 

 

I have to preface this review with the unusual circumstances this bar found itself in. I reviewed this last year, or took pictures and notes on it and put the notes away until now. This bar has a dusty, dry sugar bloom appearance because I found this bar hiding in a drawer. While it was far from expired or past it's prime, the storage conditions were not exactly optimal. Having said that, this bar has held up remarkably well. Just some light dusting but a really great surface despite that. And being stored in plastic, it retained and held on to an insanely good aroma. But for the sake of fairness to anyone reading this, I must note at all times when the mistake was mine. The mistake here was not knowing a few bars got left in a drawer and I won't be deducting points on the appearance for that.

 

Vietnam 72%

 

Type: Bittersweet, 72%

Bean Varietal: Criollo and Trinitario blend.

Ingredients: Cocoa beans, cane sugar, cocoa butter, and soy lecithin. 

Sample size: 45g or 1.59oz

 

Appearance: Deep dark brown color, simple and light non-monogrammed molding, slight surface particles, relatively smooth surface, sugar bloom. 

Score: 91

Snap: Light but very firm snap, crisp snapping sound, moderately clean break lines. 

Score: 91

Aroma: Big full aroma of coconuts, roasted cacao, coffee, very creamy and nutty, and very slight hints of cinnamon.

Score: 95

Taste: Sweet, lightly tangy and acidic, small hints of cinnamon, cereal grains, raisins, slight hints of strawberries, pepper on the finish.

Score: 94

Texture: Smooth, creamy, medium melt-time, slightly drying finish.

Score: 92

 

Really nice bar of chocolate. Very fun and interesting. Aside from the bloom, the bar of chocolate was in really great shape. The aroma was amazing. Not overly complicated just straight forward and full. Good snap quality too for a relatively light or thin bar of chocolate on the molding. 

The taste was layered and deep. it was sweet with some slight hints of cinnamon and depp raisins with a light strawberry taste. I loved the cereal grains in the middle of the taste, and the finish was just as the package describes with a long finish of pepper. There was also a slight soapy perfume taste in the finish but very faint. Nice and complicated. 

So, even though I inadvertently ruined it's appearance, this bar held up so well. I enjoyed it's complexities in its flavors but bluntness in it's aroma. This would be a fun bar of chocolate to take to some friends and sit around and talk about it. Chocolate geek chocolate. The kind that sit there with a pad and pen and write notes while they preform retro-olfaction and nod their heads at one and other and furrow their eyebrows in silent agreement as if they figured out some long lost secret. 

 

Final Score: 92.6

  score
B+

 

Slitti ~ Gran Cacao 90%

 

 

 

***Archived Notes

 

Gran Cacao chocolate. Typically when dealing with the title "Grand Cru" or Gran Cacao in this case, it usually means blend or best of. In this case it's the best of their blends from South America. There are no listings on what specific origins are in this bar though. 

 

 

Gran Cacao 90%

 

Type: Extra bittersweet 90%

Bean Varietal: Unknown, Blend

Ingredients: Cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter, natural vanilla.

Sample Size: 100g or 3.5oz

Lot #: I 606

 

Appearance: Deep dark brown color, large tab molding with singature molding patterns. Shiny smooth surface, slightly a little dusty, with some slight plastic matting marks on the surface. 

Score: 92

Snap: Light clean crisp snap, clean break lines. Thin molding lines give way to much smaller snap quality.

Score: 90

Aroma: Soft roasted cacao, wood slightly tannic, acidic nose, almondsvery subtle smoke and tobacco, slightly spicy, a little bit moldy and earthy smelling. 

Score: 94

Taste: Roasted, bitter, mildly acidic but no astringency, soft, wood earthy, dry, light and very soft flowery perfume taste on the finish but very faint. You have to wait until the deep bitter flavor dissipates to detect it.

Score: 89

Texture: Hard, a little dry, but not waxy. Long melt-time but opens up to a medium bodied texture.

Score: 87

 

The snap quality is good despite how I scored it. It was firm and it was clean. It's just how they mold it that I don't like. Overly large tabs and thin-ish snap lines. With a hard textured chocolate, it's very hard to bite into and too large to let one tab melt on your palate. 

I wasn't feeling this one as much. It's definitely a lot smoother than the Tropicale 90%, but it's almost too soft. As aggressive as the Tropicale was, there was full flavor in there with gorgeous black tea and jasmine flavors. This was just deeply bitter, roasted cacao with earthy wood tastes. There was a very slight perfume-y, flower taste detected from retro-olfaction. But as mentioned above, I had to wait a while until that bitter taste eased up on the palate. It's certainly not bad. Just not spectacular either. And this was a Grand Cru bar. Although the acidity is there, there is virtually no astringency which made this fairly mild to eat despite it's robust cacao percentage. It's deeply bitter but not sharp. The Italians, I find, are amazing about these high percentage cacao bars without that rough jabbing astringency that gets you in the neck and glands. You know that sharp reaction. This had none of that. 

It had a full and complicated aroma. In fact that aroma on this bar was the best part. I just felt like it sort of fell flat on it's flavor. I don't think this is very exceptional for eating, but with some added sugar and vanilla I am sure I can bake something fantastic with this. 

 

Final Score: 90.8

  score
B+