Grenada 75%
by Burdick
Impact
Pimp-mouth -- cloaked in heavy suede curtains & corpulent fleshpile... the forbidden-fruit captioned by a little dirt – that taps into the greed-gene to talk anyone into doing... the 'wha'eva'.
Appearance 4.6 / 5
| Color: | tannery brown |
| Surface: | solid deep-scored mold; classic 3x10 tablet |
| Temper: | burnished |
| Snap: | shy shock |
Aroma 9.4 / 10
self-assured & very reserved: beautiful cocoa (including pulp sweat) amidst moss, pickled olives & palm fronds cutting into white cedar -> cocoplum kernal
Mouthfeel 13.2 / 15
| Texture: | firm yet soft; great spread across the palate |
| Melt: | good swell (probably lecithin-induced) |
Flavor 46 / 50
wades-in thick & deep: chocolate prune bites into chickory backed by coffee -> pimento & white pepper highlights -> gorgeous chocolate-dipped banana (big & long) -> stuck licorice stick -> will-sapping sassafras -> just the slightest grip at the finishing coffee stain
Quality 19.1 / 20
Almost requires a gender mandate: a man-sized bar for a man-sized appetite. Like its mold – solid as a brickhouse; like its Snap – kind to the point of fragile & naturally sweet, proof of its true masculinity in the face of a nicety-free world.
Larry Burdick recently acquired some property on Grenada, drawn by its languor, & now consults with the Cocoa Association there – part of a new movement toward vertical integration in the artisanal chocolate scene where the grower & the maker shrink the hitherto long distance supply chain.
This bar represents the fruits of his labor... partially.
Larry, having been in the business for years as one of America’s better boxers of bombones, truffles & assorted confections but never before as a bean-to-bar smith, is no longer young enough to know it all nor too old to not know better. Therefore, he wisely outsources the actual processing of beans into chocolate by leaving those details to the private-label pros at Felchlin with whom he struck a partnership a while ago in using their couverture for his confection side of the business.
A bar that bears some shades to Flechlin’s work with Idilio. But, this, some of the greatest magnitude yet achieved by the Swiss company.
Whereas Camahogne from the same island shows S-B’s customary lighthanded technique, this lays it on thick, ponderous, constant (otherwise they’re quite related). Felchlin's slow, longitudinal conche ironically unflappable, as if to spare those coffee dregs that lurk in the backset, threatening to upset the equilibrium yet never comes close despite that momentary licorice. Their influence, however, garners little in the way of offsets or contrast; even with that banana so drenched in stronger cocoa phenols, it all feels deceptively one-dimensional.
In the end, a rather simple stalwart of a big complex that freely loiters around the oral-chamber... one in which nobody wants to leave.
When it does, as it must, it leaves a huge mark, melting an atomic hole that becomes the mouth, & scoring big for an origin seldom known for super high ratings on account of Larry’s favorite word: organoleptic.
Reviewed Autumn 2010
Larry Burdick recently acquired some property on Grenada, drawn by its languor, & now consults with the Cocoa Association there – part of a new movement toward vertical integration in the artisanal chocolate scene where the grower & the maker shrink the hitherto long distance supply chain.
This bar represents the fruits of his labor... partially.
Larry, having been in the business for years as one of America’s better boxers of bombones, truffles & assorted confections but never before as a bean-to-bar smith, is no longer young enough to know it all nor too old to not know better. Therefore, he wisely outsources the actual processing of beans into chocolate by leaving those details to the private-label pros at Felchlin with whom he struck a partnership a while ago in using their couverture for his confection side of the business.
A bar that bears some shades to Flechlin’s work with Idilio. But, this, some of the greatest magnitude yet achieved by the Swiss company.
Whereas Camahogne from the same island shows S-B’s customary lighthanded technique, this lays it on thick, ponderous, constant (otherwise they’re quite related). Felchlin's slow, longitudinal conche ironically unflappable, as if to spare those coffee dregs that lurk in the backset, threatening to upset the equilibrium yet never comes close despite that momentary licorice. Their influence, however, garners little in the way of offsets or contrast; even with that banana so drenched in stronger cocoa phenols, it all feels deceptively one-dimensional.
In the end, a rather simple stalwart of a big complex that freely loiters around the oral-chamber... one in which nobody wants to leave.
When it does, as it must, it leaves a huge mark, melting an atomic hole that becomes the mouth, & scoring big for an origin seldom known for super high ratings on account of Larry’s favorite word: organoleptic.
Reviewed Autumn 2010