20°N & 20°S

Olive & Sinclair ~ Smoked Nib Brittle and Bourbon Nib Brittle

 

 

 

Sometimes you are drawn to a product from a company and end up being sucked into their whole profile. That's what happened here. This is how I ended up with these brittles.

Olive & Sinclair are a bean-to-bar chocolate maker from Nashville, Tennessee. I had been meaning to get their products up for review for some time and then came the email about their Buttermilk White Chocolate bar. I am all about buttermilk right now (biscuits, fried chicken, and Buttermilk ice creams) and I am also a southerner. It's right up my alley. While browsing their site I found these brittles. In to the cart they went and several bar in their profile. Bastards! I came for one bar and ended up with two kinds of brittle and five bars.

Olive & Sinclair are a small craft chocolate producer with slow roasting and stone grinding techniques in small batches. These brittles are an excellent novelty product for their collection. Adding world sourced beans, small batch techniques into pure southern sweet-tooth classics such as brittle.

 

 

 

 

Bourbon Nib Brittle

Ingredients: Sugar, O&S 67% Ghana chocolate (cacao beans, brown sugar), butter, Bourbon Cacao nibs, kosher salt, black pepper.

Ghana cocoa nibs aged on barrel-aged in bourbon barrels. Smells like rich chocolate, those classic brownie notes of Ghana cacao. Boozy right out of the package but cocoa-y once it's sat out for a bit. Smells like boozy oak and fruit. Lovely smell.

Tastes like bourbon and butter right off the bar, sweet buttery, and bourbon, then finishes with deep rich brownie flavored chocolate and salt. Lingering bourbon flavors on the finish. Very tasty!

The texture is nice and crispy and crunchy with the nibs, nice chocolate melting on your tongue while crunching away at the sugars. My only gripe is that it needs a tad bit more salt. I know these are southerners who like every thing sweet, but a pinch more salt would cut that and make this even more addicting. I also can't tell which bourbon they used. The nibs do have great lingering bourbon flavors.

Barrel-aging is up my alley too as beer is my day job and barrel-aging beer is not uncommon. I like that they did this to the nibs. It imparted great flavors. You open with bourbon and close with it on the palate.

I want to give this a B for it's almost overly sugary sweetness, but the lingering brownie-like nibs and subtly and awesomeness of the bourbon make this worthy of an A- grade. And yes I do realize it's brittle and supposed to be sugary sweet. I just feel like it could use a touch more salt to achieve balanced greatness. The richness of these ghana nibs really shine on this product and they are so much better with bourbon barrel-aging.

   score
   A-

 

 

 

Smoked Nib Brittle

Ingredients: Sugar, O&S Ghana chocolate (cacao beans, brown sugar), butter, smoked cacao nibs, kosher salt, and pepper.

 

Smoked Ghana cacao nibs in "Mr. Allan Benton's wood stove smokehouse at Benton's Smoky Mountain Country Hams." If you are not familiar with Benton's hams or bacon, slap yourself in the face hard, and then go find some immediately.

The aroma is all smoke. Ham-y, bacon-y smoke. Fat smoke. Breaking into smaller pieces releases that actual pork aroma from the smoked nibs.

Peppery brittle like peppered bacon coated in sugar. The second bite was more of the butter, sugars, and chocolate. They all tend to take a back seat to the smoky nibs on the first taste but then become more noticeable. A little bitterness on this brittle too. In total it's spicy black pepper, smoky, bitter, pork flavors, buttery, sugary.

This is very different brittle from the Bourbon Brittle. This is savory and smoky. The black pepper dominates and is a little spicy. The bitterness of the cacao nibs come through more as well. It's more salty and savory, the butter is more noticeable but not until the second bite. It's all smoke and black pepper at first and then every thing else comes through. It's almost like peppered bacon bits instead of the actual nibs.

While the Bourbon Brittle was more rounded with subtle flavors, this one is more in your face. Both are so very southern and so rooted in all things Tennesee. I find the pepper to be a little too dominating on the Smoked Nib. It's still very good. It's a better balance of the salt with the sugars in the brittle, but the smoke and pepper are palate killing and dominating. The chocolate only has a moment to shine, and the richness of the nibs are overshadowed.

Having said all that, I think it's pretty damn awesome. It's for bacon lovers and people who like bold smoky flavors and big pepper tastes. This would be perfect for pairing with strong robust stouts. The bitter on the beer will let those sugars and bacon fat tastes come out more and the chocolate would mostly like be more apparent.

   score
  B+

Xocolatl de David ~ Bacon + Chocolate = <3

 

 

**Archived Notes

 

The bacon revolution continues. I for one, am not standing in the way. Where once I foolishly thought the bacon craze in general was going overboard, I never turned my back on the bacon and chocolate craze. Bacon and dark Ecuador cacao with a caramel center. Can't go wrong with that.

Similar to the Raleigh Bars, this is a similar theme from Xocolatl de David whom often works with bacon in his confections. Bacon and caramel in a slender bar/tablet form. Only without the nougat like the Raleigh bars.

 

 

Bacon & Caramel Bar

 

Type: Filled candy bar, 72% dark chocolate.

Bean Varietal: Nacional

Ingredients: 72% cacao (cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter, vanilla), sugar, cream, bacon, invert sugar, fleur de sel.

Sample Size: 2.2oz or 62g

 

Right away you can notice from the pictures it's sloppy appearance. A side effect from the salt and the caramel bulging the chocolate. I had a hard time capturing the bulging, but you can sort of make it out in the last picture above. It leaves for a hot mess in the appearance. Ashy, white, streaking, and the shine has gone off the bar.

All that aside, it smells fantastic. Like salt cure, smoky bacon, and sweet buttery caramel with earthy, fruity dark chocolate. Wonderful aroma. If they could make reed diffusers in this scent, it would be a best seller.

Sweet, and tangy bitter on the taste from the rich bitter dark chocolate, then buttery caramel with salty cripsy bacon. While the taste is full on with the bacon, I do wish it had bigger bacon pieces in it. It's the plight of my blog to demand chocolate makers to stop being skimpy with the bacon. It's bacon, you can never have TOO much in one bar. But more than that, it has the taste, but if needs the meaty back bone to make you feel like you just chewed on a fatty piece of bacon covered in chocolate and caramel. Because as rich and delectable as this is, large greasy, fatty bacon pieces would set this bar apart from any other bacon bar on the market.

I love the Ecuador chocolate they use on their products. It's rich, fruity, and bitter, and with the caramel and smoky bacon, it brings out a nutty richness to the chocolate with slight brewed coffee notes. Nice combination of flavors. It's very bitter too and that helps round out the sugars and sweetness on the bar.

A real decadent and fantastic bar. The salt makes it that much more addicting too. I am giving this bar a higher score based solely on how it tastes. It's very balanced. Savory, salty, buttery, sweet, rich, and deeply chocolaty and bitter. It's appearance is a side effect from the gooey caramel. It's really bad on this particular bar. But knowing exactly what this bar is and how it tastes shouldn't detract from making this a regular treat or gift for a true bacon lover. It's that good.

 

   score
    A

Xocolatl de David ~ Raleigh Bars

 

 

 

Handmade candy bars by Xocolatl de David in Portland, Oregon. Created for the affable Pine State Biscuits in Portland.

 

A few years back, my friends at the world renown Pine State Biscuits here in Portland asked me to create something for them to sell at their restaurant.  More specifically, a candy bar.  They bugged me for a good 3 months before I came up with the first and only prototype. It was so well received that I knew I was not going to be able to sell it just at Pine State Biscuits. To thank them I named it after the founder of the "Pine State" (North Carolina, for those not in the know), Sir Walter Raleigh.

To me the classic candy bar is, nougat, caramel, and nuts coated in chocolate.  I created mine with a southern vein since Pine State Biscuits is a southern style restaurant.  

 [Original Raleigh Bar]

Chocolate Pecan Nougat & Salted Caramel, coated in 72% Chocolate from Ecuador.

 

 

Bourbon Caramel

Buffalo Trace Bourbon Caramel, pecan chocolate nougat, 72% dark chocolate from Ecuador.

 

 

Visually this one was a little disappointing with the ashy appearance. But that's superficial for the huge flavors on this bar. Huge flavors except for the bourbon that is. Cutting into the bar I cut right through a pecan bit. Sadly it was the only real bit of pecan in the bar. I found this to be an issue as well with Liddabit's The Snacker bar. Handmade candy bars from Brooklyn, NY. Skimpy on the nuts and I am not sure why. In this case, the size of the bars maybe be a reason why. They are only about 2 inches long. But if they make them in bulk batches and strips only to be cut smaller, it doesn't completely make sense. Still, a small detail compared to the over all flavor but an issue with texture. You need those crunchy nuts to break up the chewy nougat and caramel mou consistency.

The aroma was dominated by the rich and full Ecuador chocolate. 72% and fairly bitter. It interacted nicely with the flavors of the burnt caramel and the chewy nougat. Salty caramel and sweet nougat. Lot's of contrasting flavors giving it an up and down quality for the palate. No one taste or flavor is the focus. I wished the aroma had more bourbon on it. Buffalo Trace is a big woody bourbon perfect for things like this and chocolate. I use it for my own Bourbon Pecan Truffles. But the subtle use of it in the caramel left everything else to dominate. The good news is though, the bourbon is present in the flavor but not really until the finish. It's lighter, but definitely distinguishable. The salt and then the sweet sugars dominate with the bitter chocolate leave the bourbon hanging on in the finish.

Texturally the caramel was awesome. It's burnt and salty at the same time with a gorgeous burnt rust color. It has a texture midway between runny caramel and caramel mou. The nougat was also soft and chewy. Right where you want it to be. Not too hard and not too chewy. Soft and easy. It just needed that extra crunch with more pecans.

It's an excellent bar full of big flavors, but it needs more pecans and more bourbon. I could be a raging alcoholic who just wants more booze at any cost, but realistically it's a subtle approach with the bourbon. It's the right size for all the flavors it packs and for how sweet and rich it is. The salt balances it out and makes it addicting like a fat crack rock. Not that I know anything about that. I wonder if David Briggs could make this even more ridiculously good by adding caramelized or cinnamon sugar pecans in the nougat.

 

 

Bacon Caramel

Bacon Caramel, pecan nougat, and 72% Ecuador chocolate.

 

 

Much better appearance with a shiny surface. The aroma dominates with big smoky bacon and rich chocolate. Did I mention crack in the previous review? Yeah, times that by 10 for this bar.

Same issues with the skimpy pecans. Again, it needs that break up with the chewy caramel and chewy nougat. I also think this could have benefited from crispy bacon in the caramel for added texture. It certainly had all the bacon flavor, but the crunch factor was missing again. It should be like their Country Ham bar. As with the bourbon bar, I could be a raging bacon-holic in my need for more bacon in this bar, but realistically it's a textural issue. It needs crunch some where, why not add bacon bits?

The chocolate has a less dominating flavor on this bar, but it's bitterness is very present. Bitters not acidity. The salty burnt caramel wins again, and the nougat rounds out the sweetness. The dominate flavor though is of course the smoky bacon. It's all in there. Sweet, salty, burnt sugars, chewy nougat and smoky bacon. How could you not love this thing? It's very sweet and rich. When you do get a bit of pecan in the bar, it adds a really nice layer of depth to the flavor. Needs moar!

The New Summer Picnic

 

 

A few years ago while working at Formaggio Kitchen, Robert Aguilera and I came up with a ridiculous plan to make a beer and a cheese that don't normally work together, work. We forged an unholy union between classic brie and Allagash Brewing Company's Curieux. A fatty buttery cheese with a soft edged barrel aged tripel. Normally you would rely on alpha acids in the hops or carbonation in the beer to work on a fatty cheese. But since this beer had the soft edges from the barrel aging, they become ill-matched.

We forged this union by adding, sliced bresola (salty Italian cured meat), fresh strawberries (acidic and tangy), fruits of the forest jam (sweet and tangy), a fresh baguette, and of course the cheese and the beer. It was incredible! It was a complete meal. My husband and I dined on it all summer long.

We even upped the ante with the second picnic. This time we took Allagash's Odyssey. A very raisin-y dark Belgian-style wheat beer also oak-aged. Huge 10%, sticky beer with bold dark fruits and funky, spicy wheat aromas. We paired this beer with a fresh baguette, sliced speck (smoky Italian cured meat), Monte Enebro (a very briney and salty Spanish goat cheese), prune preserve, and dried Mojave Desert raisins. My eyes pretty much just rolled in the back of my head just remember how good this pairing was.

By now you should know, that Robert is a master at these combinations. I bring him the beer, and he gives me the world. This was just for shits and giggles too. These pairings weren't featured in any class I ever taught Formaggio Kitchen, or in any dinner I ever hosted. Rob Tod wanted to post it on Allagash's website. I forgot to give him the details. I think my subconscious wanted to selfishly keep it to myself.

So, following this vein, I had ordered Foietella from Xocolatl de David. Literally it is foie gras and chocolate blended together in a spread. Yes, that feeling is your arteries slowing down just for reading those words. Cream, foie, and chocolate. Done. Flat line......

I wasn't sure what to put with the Foietella. David Briggs, the creator suggested rhubarb jam. I understand that now after tasting it. It needs an acidic or tart balance to all that fat! I decided to put together a little platter, this time paired with an Italian Barbera, of cheese, foietella, fresh strawberries, baguette, pecans, fruits of the forrest jam, and some left over scraps of Xocolatl de David's Country Ham bar (chocolate bar with Benton's ham), and the Iberico bar which is basically a chocolate bar with lardo (pork fat) blended in. Yes, that was your heart now in full A-fib.

This post is pretty much an excuse to brag and post glorious pics of this summer picnic. A couple of high resolution images and some iPhone pics. I had to take those so I could quickly put them up on Twitter and show off.

 

 

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+

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.

 

Mast Brothers ~ Papua New Guinea 71%

 

 

I have been waiting for this. Papua New Guinea is sort of a favorite region for me. Each bar I have had using beans from this region never fails to produce something cool and drastically different from one bar to the next. I wouldn't say my experience with this region is vast by any means, but it's something I generally look forward to.

Solid packaging from the mast brothers. I like this wrapper and I think it's fitting for how this bar smells and tastes. That might sound strange, but wait until you read about the descriptions I picked up from this bar.

This is a different bar indeed using post fermentation smoking techniques.

  After harvest, these beans are uniquely smoked. This post-fermentation process imparts incredible flavor; think hickory smoked bacon and aged scotch.

This is definitely a smoked bar of chocolate and one for the bacon lovers without having any actual bacon in it.

 

 

Papua New Guinea 71%

 

Type: Bittersweet, 71%

Bean Varietal: Unknown, probably Trinitario.

Ingredients: Cacao and cane sugar.

Sample Size: 2.5 oz

Batch #: 22081211

 

Appearance: Deep dark brown color, shiny top surface, simple non-monogrammed molding, scratches, nicks, and particle crumbs on the surface.

Score: 90

Snap: Nice snap, firm, crisp sound, clean break lines.

Score: 92

Aroma: Very big and bold aroma. Intense smoke, savory, hickory, bacon, tobacco, char, fruity, esters, potting soil, earthy, musty, dirt, pen ink, slightly astringent, and not to be influenced by the packaging, there is an aged scotch aroma.

Score: 95

Taste: Smoky, savory and bacon-y, pen ink, deeply rich and cocoa-y, fruity, fresh green tobacco, coffee notes, cereal grains, leather, tea flavors, robust and deeply bitter, acidic and mildly astringent, robust wood flavors, strange hints of kiwi.

Score: 93

Texture: Soft and creamy with a medium-fast melt time. Gritty grainy texture.

Score: 91

 

This bar was all over the place but really good! I opened this bar without realizing the beans were smoked after fermentation. It is every thing described on the package and more. Big huge smoke flavors, very savory and bacon-y. And then it sort of bounces around, fruity tart and astringent kiwi flavors, coffee, leather, grains, and tea flavors. It's very bold and bitter, and it does have that what is becoming a Mast Brothers signature hallmark of acidity and astringency. However, in this bar, those characteristics or flaws depending on how you look at it, don't really make this bar unpleasant. But it shouldn't be ignored that the Bro's really need to get on top of their game and refine these bars better. This bar just happens to have so much going on that certain flavors don't really interfere with one and other.

This is a vegan's dream right here. No meat in this bar at all, but the flavors have such a nice savory bacon flavor. The aroma has scotch on it, but it's not in the flavor. The Kiwi's, as odd as this may sound, almost lend to more of a mezcal flavor coupled with the smoked flavors.

Great snap on this bar, marred surface, but still a residual glossy shine on it's surface, and another mixed bag on the texture. I swear their bars didn't used to be as grainy as this. They are soft and melt great on the tongue, but the overly large particle sizes might be what is giving way to the astringency and acidity issues. Taza has this same problem but times ten. I have been at the factory and have had freshly made bars. I think once the bars are made they are smoother and less astringent. But once they have aged, they tend to sour a bit.

Whatever the technical flaws are on this bar, it doesn't manage to take away from how good and strongly flavored this bar is. Savory bacon and smoky mezcal makes for a big winner. This would pair awesome with beer. Rich deep and robust stouts or brown ales like a Munich Dunkel. But not smoked beers. Let the smoke on this infuse with the beer.

 

Final Score: 92.2

   score
  B+

Mast Brothers ~ Crown Maple 73%

 

 

 

Mast Brothers Chocolate and Crown Maple syrup from the Catkills. Simple enough concept, but not a lot of information about this bar except that it's made with Crown Maple products. No word on what the base chocolate is except it's 73% dark chocolate. Their minimalist website has zero information about it. Kind of frustrating to have to scour the web and other blogs to gather information about it. I get it guys, you are hipsters and artisans who don't like to use computers. But the rest of us do and we would like some more information about your products. Even after scouring, I still have no idea what the base is. I suspect it's either something Venezuelan or from the Dominican Republic.

Striking packaging as usual though.

 

Crown Maple

 

Type: Flavored bittersweet, 73%

Bean Varietal: Unknown

Ingredients: Cacao, maple sugar.

Sample Size: 2.5 oz

Batch # 21081211

 

Appearance: Deep dark brown color, shiny molded surface with streaky back side. Regular, non-monogrammed molding.

Score: 90

Snap: Light and dull snap sound, clean break lines with a chalky appearance on the break lines.

Score: 82

Aroma: Roasted cacao, smoky, little woody and a little tangy, caramel, medicinal, earthy, inky.

Score: 90

Taste: Tart, very acidic, inky, sour, big bold wood, toast, no maple taste whatsoever.

Score: 45

Texture: Very soft, grainy, fast melt time. Creamy but the grainy texture messes that up.

Score: 63

 

Tastes like something from Venezuela, but completely out of balance. This is the second time ever I have to report that I found a chocolate to be gross. It's terribly sour, extremely acidic, there is no natural harmony with the extremely robust flavors of the chocolate and the maple syrup. They're using a great product like a wonderfully natural maple syrup from small craft producers in the Catskills, you would think they would want that to shine through even just a little bit. I couldn't taste any of it in this bar. The chocolate is so over the top raw and untamed, it left little to be desired. I never thought I would say that about the Mast Brothers ever, but this bar was out of control.

It actually made my throat a little sore after eating a few squares from the acidity. I don't know what to make of that.

The appearance was simple and good. Just some odd streaking on the back of the bar. The aroma was fairly decent. But the snap was dull and weak and the texture was good up until the overly large granules of the chocolate interfered with that.

I am so frustrated with this bar. This is certainly not Mast Brothers quality that I am used to. In the past I have noticed consistency issues, and an acidity issue that I felt might become a problem if they didn't get on top of it. I noticed it in a couple of different bars making it a signature issue of the makers and not the beans. I have always said these guys are amazing. If they just tweak a few issues, they will be one of the best in the US. This bar was a huge step in the wrong direction.

This score should be lower than it is because taste is everything, but it's other technical marks hold it up higher than it should be.

 

Final Score:

score
D+

Seattle Chocolates ~ Birthday Cake

 

 

Seattle Chocolates 

Birthday Cake filled truffle bar in milk chocolate. Yellow cake mix with confetti bits wrapped in milk chocolate. 

 

Birthday Cake

Type: Filled, truffle/candy bar.

Bean Varietal: N/A

Ingredients: White Chocolate (sugar, cocoa butter, whole milk powder, whey powder, soya lecithin, pure vanillia), Milk Chocolate (sugar, cocoa butter, whole milk powder, chocolate liquor, soya lecithin, pure vanilla), Confetti cake mix (unbleached wheat flour, sugar, colored bits [sugar, corn syrup, corn, palm oil, modified food starch, colors {elderberry juice, spinach extract, paprika, tumeric, citric acid}, baking soda, natural vanilla flavor, cream of tartar, salt, carob bean gum, guar gum), palm kernal oil. 

Sample Size: 2.5oz or 70g

 

Milk chocolate surface with Seattle Chocolates signature wavy patterned surface. Four large tablets. Shiny surface and creamy milk chocolate color with some slight surface marks. 

Smelled a bit artificial out of the package. The milk chocolate gives off a bit of a smoky and creamy aroma. Once spilt open, the center gives way to a creamy milk chocolate aroma. 

Nice and fully filled center. The center was a blend of white chocolate with cake mix and confetti's. The center was a little hard at first with crispy crunchy confetti bits. It melts away to a softer creamier texture. 

The white chocolate is a big distraction. If you are a white chocolate fan than this will be good, but if you were expecting cake flavor, it's dominated by the white chocolate. The milk chocolate was artificial tasting too and ends up being more distracting to the cake idea too. There is nothing really cake-like about this bar at all. Except with it's appearance when you break into the bar. It looks like a layer of cake covered in chocolate but the confetti's barely pop out. 

I wanted to like this bar because it sounded like fun and it sounded like a good idea. They ruined it with white chocolate in the center and the white and milk chocolate tasted completely artificial which ruined the taste for me completely. I don't mind white chocolate that much but it overpowered this bar and left no yellow cake taste. The confetti's added a fun crunchy texture, but the rest of it was hard and waxy at first until it began to open up and melt on the palate. 

Playful? Yes. Tasty? Disappointed. 

 

  score
 D-

 

Chuao ~ Panko in Semisweet 60%

 

Another fun and unusual filled chocolate bar from Chuao Chocolatier. I loved the Milk Chocolate and Potato Chips bar. Crumbled salty chips broken up into a milk chocolate bar. As if you even need to ask if that would be good. It was amazing. 

Today we have panko. Japanese bread crumbs typically used for their fine texture and coating for breading and frying things.

 

Click to enlarge images.

 

 

 

 

Panko in Chocolate Bar

 

Type: Filled Semisweet, 60%

Varietal: Hybrid

Ingredients: Dark chocolate (cacao, sugar, cacao butter, soy lecithin, vanilla), panko (unbleached wheat flour, dextrose, yeast, salt), salt. 

Sample Size: 80g or 2.8oz

 

Appearance: Deep dark chocolate color, very dark brown, Shiny and beautiful bar with almost a glittery-like effect from the panko on the top of the surface. Monogrammed tablet, textured surface on the back with a well blended and filled bar. 

Score: 94

Snap: Deep, firm snap with fairly loud and crisp snap sound, crumbly break lines due to the panko. 

Score: 90

Aroma: Sweet, deep and hidden berry notes, pen ink, lightly smoky, roasted cacao and tobacco notes.  

Score: 90

Taste: Tangy acid notes, very fruity, big berries and sweet cacao, very small hits of salt. 

Score: 91

Texture: Smooth but very hard chocolate, a little waxy, medium melt time, very gritty panko crumbs but a nice crispy crunch. 

Score: 87

 

Beautiful looking bar. Nice shiny and unblemished surface with the panko on the top almost looking like glitter. Click the first picture in the set of the bars to see what I mean about that glittery effect. Cool surface on the back and proves that the bar is evenly distributed with panko crumbs. 

Good, very strong snap. I only scored it lower because of it's grit it leaves when snapped. That is of course, due to the panko, but I have to say it is one of the more messier bars when snapping a piece off. But the firmness of it and the sound was excellent. 

The aroma was kind of weak. It had all the hallmarks of big South American chocolate but it was so subdued. I wonder if the sugar content had something to do with that or if the panko crumbs stifled the aroma. But it did have berry notes, smoke, and tobacco. All trademarks I have come to know from Venezuelan beans.

A bit acidic in the first taste. Tangy and tart. Very sweet and sugary with big berry flavors. Not enough salt to handle the sugar content of this semisweet bar. The panko didn't have as much of a toasted taste as I wanted and pretty much just added a crispy texture and absorbed all the flavors of the chocolate. I found it to be too sweet over all. There simply wasn't enough salt for this bar. The sugars from the chocolate completely trumped the salt and panko. 

The panko ended up being a bit annoying for me in the end. It didn't add enough flavor, just a crispy texture that I did like, but then it ended up being gritty and kind of obnoxious as I was trying to focus on the finishing flavors but ended up rinsing my mouth to clear it of the crumbs. 

I think this is one of those bars that sounds good on paper but didn't come out as well as it could have. Put this on milk chocolate, and add more salt and you would have a winner despite the lingering grittypanko crumbs on the finish. The creaminess of the milk chocolate, the added creamy milk flavors and the salt would help tone down the acidity of the chocolate and the huge berry flavors and allow all the flavors to present themselves nicely. 

A milk chocolate would be a nicer melting chocolate as well. I get that you are supposed to bite into and crunch it up. But there was still a slight hard waxy texture to the chocolate. It should have been smoother and softer to accommodate or not get in the way of the crispy panko. 

 

Final Score: 90.4

  score
B+