Impact
The 7 Sages of Plato’s Protagoras... in which Socrates simultaneously extols & warns about the love of wisdom, inviting brief but memorable remarks, like a laconic brevity be on every person’s lips with this: Know thyself... & nothing too much. (Most ignore the critical second part.)
Scion Gary Guittard & the veterans in his company taking the philosopher's advice to heart.
Scion Gary Guittard & the veterans in his company taking the philosopher's advice to heart.
Appearance 5 / 5
not supposed to look this good
not supposed to look this good
| Color: | beautiful burnt-orange |
| Surface: | excellent plaque-worthy grain |
| Temper: | lightly stained / varnished... faintly recalls Slitti’s best |
| Snap: | bring the chainsaw |
Aroma 9.4 / 10
aeromatic... intense, pungent, & huge: lays the lumber (ka-BOOM) with dense, dark hardwoods, enough beams to build a catamaran & float this bar(ge) up to Guittard in SF Bay area of California (including a dash of cascarilla bark & its white-petaled blossom intact) after tall grass & (smokeless) tobacco clear the air -> copra & picholine round out the fragrance of generally potent base notes & completely outsized for a 65%
Mouthfeel 12.2 / 15
| Texture: | liquid light |
| Melt: | a smoovie (smooth move) |
Flavor 41.9 / 50
slips right in the slot with a mix of power ‘n verve: fruits well-suited against cocoa-esque woods spraying misty plumes (sea grape + currant) -> goes juicy over pomerac & pomelo -> vanilla to the forefront influences bougainvillea into licorice-yam / persimmon teardrop, then spiced black cherry -> thin streak of stringent pink grapefruit (backcross to pomelo) wraps around a finger-cane (sugar) to seal-in the spice bracket
Quality 15.7 / 20
DR receives more accolades nowadays because of its advancing post-harvest practices & robust cacáo varieties but Trinidad remains tried & always true. Ditto Guittard.
The delight evoked upon beholders of this fruited bar owes much to roughly 35% sugaring, which inversely equates with 65% cacáo (a goodly portion of it from cocoa butter) -- a ratio that titivates an already delicately-toned origin. Then in the execution, Guittard compensates. On one hand it weaves a tight intermesh in the conche while on the other exerts overbearing control, in large measure due to vanilla.
The sum total somewhat underwhelming, less grandiose than Trinitarios themselves, lacking the pointed fruit detail of, say, Coppenuer or Amedei. Still, a fun-time cocoa.
ING: cocoa mass, sugar, cacáo butter, vanilla, lecithin
Reviewed January 2011
The delight evoked upon beholders of this fruited bar owes much to roughly 35% sugaring, which inversely equates with 65% cacáo (a goodly portion of it from cocoa butter) -- a ratio that titivates an already delicately-toned origin. Then in the execution, Guittard compensates. On one hand it weaves a tight intermesh in the conche while on the other exerts overbearing control, in large measure due to vanilla.
The sum total somewhat underwhelming, less grandiose than Trinitarios themselves, lacking the pointed fruit detail of, say, Coppenuer or Amedei. Still, a fun-time cocoa.
ING: cocoa mass, sugar, cacáo butter, vanilla, lecithin
Reviewed January 2011