Impact
Some bars in the biz have such massive balls to think they’re so well-hung that, even when flaccid, they cannot be tied into a slip-knot. This bar is cut from such a specimen. A headbanger.
Here, eat raw meat / live in caves. So savage to cause major damage requiring a full-body cast. Be prepared to get scared. Or as one associate wrote:
Here, eat raw meat / live in caves. So savage to cause major damage requiring a full-body cast. Be prepared to get scared. Or as one associate wrote:
Terrifying. F'ing terrifying... as a 1,200 foot high platform to jump off of. Dunno what I was thinking. I came *this* close to backing out, to saying "no, no, hold me back, & I don't care what you think of me." Yes, I ate it anyway. I figured out a way around the stop-force of fear, but I was deeply, nauseatingly afraid every bite of the way. Felt like hours of terror. Whooo. Sort of cleans the pipes out.Note to organizers of award ceremonies: this wins the ribbon for 'the good plumbing seal-of-approval' category; lid up / seat down.
Appearance 4.8 / 5
| Color: | magenta-cast brown |
| Surface: | all flush... other than some micro-airholes & artisan swirls |
| Temper: | shinedown -- semi-flat |
| Snap: | sweetly lyrical, oddly enough |
Aroma 6.7 / 10
a downdraft of Fruition's La Red but without the ferment:
coffee & cereal grains with a spice quotient
generally mild considering the percentage
coffee & cereal grains with a spice quotient
generally mild considering the percentage
Mouthfeel 12.1 / 15
| Texture: | viscous |
| Melt: | plodding slow |
Flavor 31.4 / 50
cacáo verde (green cocoa, foliage included) -> souring shudder -> metal streak -> dirt -> spores -> iron mud -> beef & other heavy hemoglobin meat -> Worcestershire sauce -> partial redemption on mushroom paté
Quality 13.9 / 20
Bryan Graham of Fruition does what what few barsmiths even dare -- produce an unsweetened 100%.
While most attempt more of a stab -- including some exceptional ones like Pralus' buttered up Madagascar or Domori's benign blueprint IL100%Criollo -- Grahams takes a roundhouse punch at it... by tackling an origin that can be unforgiving.
Then again, Zotter's 100 demonstrates that Peru has moved beyond strictly rough hewn cacáo. He sourced his from the same San Martin region as Fruition.
But their seed selections differ dramatically.
Not since Coppeneur's big barking rottweiler named Iara from neighboring Ecuador has such a growling bar been unleashed. In so doing this returns Peru to its erstwhile reputation of being synonymous with 'sour dirt', to say nothing of the Texture. Speaking of which, Gore Vidal aspired to a connoisseur of decline. To paraphrase him, this bar rots away at a funereal pace. And that's it's best feature (seriously, the Texture comes quite good).
This will have consumers praying to San Squintin'... wincing for hours afterwards just from the memory of it.
More documentation that San Martin -- a dumping ground for CCN -- continues to suffer under its toxic runoff. On the upside, all these volatiles could translate into some savory bites once sugared & cured. Either that or Atlantic Cocoa should stop importing it into the USA until co-ops down there change their tree stock.
INGREDIENTS: cocoa mass
Reviewed May 13, 2013
While most attempt more of a stab -- including some exceptional ones like Pralus' buttered up Madagascar or Domori's benign blueprint IL100%Criollo -- Grahams takes a roundhouse punch at it... by tackling an origin that can be unforgiving.
Then again, Zotter's 100 demonstrates that Peru has moved beyond strictly rough hewn cacáo. He sourced his from the same San Martin region as Fruition.
But their seed selections differ dramatically.
Not since Coppeneur's big barking rottweiler named Iara from neighboring Ecuador has such a growling bar been unleashed. In so doing this returns Peru to its erstwhile reputation of being synonymous with 'sour dirt', to say nothing of the Texture. Speaking of which, Gore Vidal aspired to a connoisseur of decline. To paraphrase him, this bar rots away at a funereal pace. And that's it's best feature (seriously, the Texture comes quite good).
This will have consumers praying to San Squintin'... wincing for hours afterwards just from the memory of it.
More documentation that San Martin -- a dumping ground for CCN -- continues to suffer under its toxic runoff. On the upside, all these volatiles could translate into some savory bites once sugared & cured. Either that or Atlantic Cocoa should stop importing it into the USA until co-ops down there change their tree stock.
INGREDIENTS: cocoa mass
Reviewed May 13, 2013