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

Mast Brothers ~ La Red de Guaconejo 74%

 

 

**Archived Notes

 

Organic Dominican Republic beans sourced from La Red de Guaconejo cooperative in the northern tropical part of the country.

 

 

La Red de Guaconejo 74%

 

Type: Bittersweet, 74%

Bean Varietal: Hispanola (Forastero/Criollo blend)

Ingredients: Cacao and cane sugar.

Sample Size: 2.5 oz

Batch #: 11091211

 

Appearance: Dark brown color, non-monogrammed molding, slightly dry looking, but not ashy, slight scuff marks on the top surface, shiny top surface, minor air bubbles on the back surface.

Score: 89

Snap: Mild snap, slightly firm with lightly crisp snap sound. Crumbly break lines.

Score: 90

Aroma: Soft aroma of bright acidic red cherries, pipe tobacco, and soft wood.

Score: 93

Taste: Deeply bitter, inky, sour and acidic, slight medicinal notes, earthy, cherries, pipe tobacco, buttery toast, soft wood, lingering bitterness.

Score: 84

Texture: Smooth, medium melt-time, creamy and a little chalky.

Score: 92

 

This was okay chocolate. Good but far from great. Though there are some flaws in it, I didn't seem to mind them as much for this bar. It has notes that I am usually not that fond of, but in this case, they work well on this bar. The medicinal notes worked. The acidity would have been fine along with the bright cherry flavors but it's the bitterness that left his bar unbalanced. So much bitterness it overtakes the whole bar.

Toast and jam. Those were the best flavors on this bar. I tried to not to be influenced by the package description indicating notes of pipe tobacco and cherries, but that is exactly what is all over this bar. Aroma and taste. It has good earthy medicinal tastes along with ink upfront and then bright cherries, toast, and tobacco. But the flavors were disjointed by the acidity and bitterness. It's almost like a dual bar. It really detracts from some of the richness in the flavors. You have to really burrough through bitterness before the lovely cherry, toast, and tobacco flavors come through. And then your palate is left with more lingering bitterness. If it were tamed a bit more, this would be lovely chocolate.

 

Final Score: 89.6

   score
  B+

Whole Foods Organic ~ Tanzania 72% Dark Chocolate

 

 

Organic and fair trade single origin beans from Tanzania made into chocolate bars from Whole Foods and processed in Belgium, to benefit the Tanzania Schoolhouse Project. A portion of the proceeds benefit the education of children in the Kyela District of Tanzania.

 

[Image via Hai Tanzania]

 

 

 

Tanzania Schoolhouse Project 72%

 

Type: Bittersweet, 72%

Bean Varietal: Probably Forastero

Ingredients: Chocolate liquor, cane sugar, cocoa butter. All organic.

Sample Size: 3.5 oz

 

Appearance: Smooth, non-monogrammed molding, but signature molded tablet, medium brown color, near blemish free bar on the surface, some very mild streaking on the back of the bar with some small air bubbles.

Score: 94

Snap: Firm snap with a lightly crisp snapping sound, clean break lines.

Score: 91

Aroma: Big bold aroma of roasted peanuts, big fruit and berries and ink.

Score: 92

Taste: Flowery and inky up front, deeply bitter, roasted cacao, toast, earthy, subdued fruits, roasted and nutty, slightly smoky lingering tastes on the finish.

Score: 93

Texture: Smooth, medium-slow melt time, Not silky smooth or chalky, but some where in between on it's texture.

Score: 91

 

Very nice bar. Great appearance. Virtually blemish free and that's awesome for a bar picked up at a grocery store. Nice molding good thickness on the bar, and even though it has overly large tablets, it's not too thick to bite into which has been an issue on other bars with large, fat tabs.

The aroma was nice and full. Big fruits and roasted peanuts. Some people like really deeply complicated aromas. I find it awesome when I can find layer upon layer in an aroma, but there is something to be said about a simple straight forward aroma too. Nothing too complicated. It is what it is.

The flavors are fairly straight forward as well. I don't want to say it's simple, but there wasn't a whole lot of nuance on this bar. Deeply bitter with lots of lingering bitterness. But sweet and floral up front and again big roasted cacao flavors and nuts. Some biscuit and toast flavors a little earthy and fruity.

This is really great eating chocolate. No thinking, no need to get too complicated about it. Store this in your desk at work for chocolate intermezzos, break this open and devour it quickly, melt it down for hot chocolate, chop it up and bake with it. I don't want to sound flippant about it, but it's very good chocolate for only $2.99. You can buy a ton of it to use for whatever and you are doing some good with it by buying it for it's charity purposes.

 

Final Score: 92.2

   score
  B+

Antica Pasticceria Muzzi ~ Trinitario al Sale

 

 

Antica Pasticceria Muzzi

A 200 year old Pasticceria who specializes in classic Italian pannetone and other classic Italian goodies, that has decided to create a finer line of chocolate called "A pelle," with interesting flavors. Flavors like Spicy Criollo, Cubarancia, Salt Trinitario, Double Black 99%, Total Black 70%, Cinnamon and White Chocolate, Cannabis and Criollo, Madagascar.

Located in the center east of Perugia in a town called Foligno.

 

[Image via: Vacances-Location.net]

 

I picked this up in Quebec City, Canada. I am not going to lie, I did it purely because of it's funky packaging. I barely looked at it at the time because I was grabbing a ton of different things at once, but I am happy to find that I grabbed milk chocolate Trinitario with sea salt. However, had I known crazy shit like the Cannabis and Criollo existed, I would have easily grabbed that. I am not even a pothead, but I want to try interesting things all the time. I have had people who love craft beer give me their own handmade hops and chocolate to taste. If you are not aware, hops is a cousin of cannabis and also has soothing and mellow properties (not THC) to it. But it's a bold and bitter taste. It was put in white chocolate, when I tried it, but I'd like to see it in milk chocolate to see how it does.

 

Trinitario al Sale

 

Type: Flavored, Milk Chocolate

Bean Varietal: Trinitario

Ingredients: Plain milk chocolate (32%, Sugar, cocoa butter, powdered skim milk, cocoa paste, powdered whole milk, soya lecithin, and sweet salt.

Sample Size: 60g

 

Appearance: Rich caramel color, square monogrammed tablet, no molding lines, matting marks, salt crystals and particles all over the bar.

Score: 74

Snap: Excellent firm snap. Good snapping sound, nice thickness of the molding, now dullness, and clean break lines.

Score: 94

Aroma: All fatty cream and butter. Smells like nutty brownies and a little smoky.

Score: 93

Taste: Creamy and milky, buttery, caramel, a little nutty, lightly salted but balanced well through the bar, almost too creamy though and it almost tastes like white chocolate.

Score: 87

Texture: Creamy, fast melt-time, slightly grainy with the salt, and slightly gritty.

Score: 89

 

The appearance is a bit of a hot mess. It has a simple molding, clean and nice and thick for good snap, but the salt particles on top muddle it and I can't even begin to tell you why there was so much particle matter all over it. It had matting too from the plastic seal. It's color was rich though. I bet this thing is a beauty when it's freshly made. Still, it's packaging is cool.

Great snap and and decent texture. A little grainy with the salt and sort of gritty. It was a creamy texture but not silky.

It's taste is nicely balanced with the salt at first. Good sweet and salty ratio. But the cream and fatty milk taste was almost too much. it dominates and detracts from the nuances of using Trinitario cacao. It left too much of that cloying milk taste that so many often dislike about white chocolate. Too creamy and too milky. It has nice caramel and nutty notes and again sweet and salty, but the palate is then dominated with cloying milk and leaves with you milk breath. I think it's great up until that point.

I wish I had more of it because the best thing to do with overly milky chocolate like this is to chop it up and toss it into a batch of cookies. The salt would make it even better.

 

Final Score: 87.4

   score
    B

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+

Gran Inka ~ 75%

 

 

Organic chocolate from Cooperative Narajillo in Peru. They focus on cacao and coffee production with sustainable efforts and fair trade ethics.

I picked this up in Canada. It unfortunately has zero shelf life. There was no "best before" date on the bar, so I have no idea how old it is. I did pick this up over Christmas in Quebec City. I have to be fair in my reviews about that. But most chocolate has a very long shelf life. All the chocolate I bought was new and had a more than a year on their "best before" dates which is why I took my time reviewing all the bars I bought. I had some time with with them and time to whittle down the rest of my library. On the Narajillo website, it says this bar has a 2 year shelf life. That's a pretty long time. I don't usually like things going past 6 months. This bar was also sealed in plastic. It should have held on longer than it did. At least in terms of it's appearance.

 

 

Gran Inka 75%

 

Type: Bittersweet, 75%

Bean Varietal: Unknown

Ingredients: Cocoa paste, cocoa powder, cane sugar, cocoa butter.

Sample Size: 32g

 

Appearance: Small, thin bar with simple non-monogrammed molding, dull brown, very dry and ashy bloom, some splotching on the bar or matting marks from the plastic seal, and nicked up at the ends of the bar with some particle matter.

Score: 45

Snap: Decent snap for a small and thin bar. Very firm and crisp snap with clean break lines. Nice and audible too.

Score: 92

Aroma: Soft aroma of roasted cacao and coffee grinds, some smokiness, and nuttiness. Dissipates very quickly though.

Score: 83

Taste: Coffee grinds, roasted cacao, sugars, bitter, very fruity, woody, nutty, lingering drying bitters on the palate with woody flavors hanging on.

Score: 91

Texture: Hard, slow melt-time, a little grainy and drying texture, but not gritty. No creaminess at all.

Score: 73

 

It has a really good taste on this bar, but I have to say overall this isn't that special. Worst dried up appearance I have seen on a bar in a long time and I have scraps (for face masks) longer than 3 years old. This bar should have been better than that.

It had a really soft aroma. It's muddled with coffee grinds on it's nose and taste. Since this coop also produces coffee, I am wondering if they are processed in the same place giving it some cross contamination. It reminds me a lot of Santander in Colombia. Same thing with the coffee flavors and they process coffee too.

It's flavors were quite pronounced though. They were good. Coffee grinds (which may or may not be a natural flavor profile), sweet sugars for a 75% that really turned out those big fruity flavors, woody, nutty, roasted cacao, and some nice bitters on it. But even though it did taste pretty good, there wasn't anything particularly fascinating about it. Just an average tasting bar of chocolate. But again the sugars were good. I prefer a little more since I happen to think it draws out more of the natural fruity flavors. The best way to test that is to try a 70% to 75% bar of chocolate, a bittersweet bar, versus a 60% to 65% semisweet. The difference is noticeable. Not just because of the cacao percentage but the sweeter sugars. It really makes it more fruity. It's not scientific, just something I have observed. So, something like this with a nice kick of sugar, helped it in my opinion.

Weak aroma, and hard, dry texture round out this less than stellar review.

 

Final Score: 76.8

  score
D+

 

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

Mast Brothers ~ Moho River 70%

 

 

 

Mast Brothers Moho River 70% from Belize. Tropical lush area right in central America. Perfect conditions for cacao growing. Historically some of the original landscapes for the Mayan civilization and their history with cacao.

 

[Image via Adventure Smith Explorations]

 

The Moho River is located at the southern tip of the country by Punta Gorda. The packaging mentions the beans being sourced from a cooperative, I am assuming the Toledo Cacao Growers Association. This is also set up with tours and adventure traveling to Belize with The Cotton Lodge.

This is a good article for some information about The Cotton Lodge via Sacred Earth Travel.

 

Moho River 70%

 

Type: Bittersweet, 70%

Bean Varietal: Unknown

Ingredients: Cacao, cane sugar.

Sample Size: 2.5oz

Lot # 22111111

 

Appearance: Simple non-monogrammed molding, muted ashy brown color, streaking on the back of the bar, light and superficial scuffing on the front side of the bar, shiny molded surface.

Score: 89

Snap: Light to medium snap, mildly firm, slight crisp sound, and clean break lines.

Score: 90

Aroma: Funky! Big bold and bright cherries, wood, tart, a little inky, char, medicinal like Robitussin cough syrup. Once it breathed a bit, it became more raisin-y.

Score: 89

Taste: Bitter, medicinal, cough syrup, cherries, ink, char, acidic, tangy, big wood flavors, earthy, and some biscuit-y flavors.

Score: 86

Texture: Smooth, medium melt-time, a little dry and chalky at the end, but over all creamy and smooth.

Score: 92

 

If you like funk, you will like this bar. This is very reminiscent of Rio Caribe beans only this is much more fruity and bright versus the overly charred characteristics of Rio Caribe. I was hoping the cough syrup aroma wouldn't be significant on the flavor, but unfortunately it was all over the flavor. Big bold cherries, bright acidity, some wood and char flavors, but an undeniable medicinal quality that made it like cough syrup with the cherries. It's not bad chocolate, it's just not the kind of flavors I enjoy.

The aroma was very strong with the same characteristics of the flavor. Once it breathed a bit there was a nice raisin aroma, but not on the flavor. The package says it has notes of raisins, plums, and sarsaparilla. I didn't get any of that but the raisins on the aroma. This is why I don't like flavor notes on packages. Sometimes it's there in bold ways like Amano's Dos Rios. Can't deny that bergamot. But often times, if chocolate breathes or ages, those flavors change in big ways. Not to mention taste being subjective. I don't know what to say about this chocolate, but it's very funky. The flavors are a bit all over the place. It's bitter and acidic, fruity and medicinal, and a little earthy and biscuit-y on the second and third tastes. It's interesting in that regards, but not my favorite flavor profiles. I was really hoping for that sarsaparilla flavor too. That would have been great.

 

Final Score: 89.2

   score
    B

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!