75% Dominican
by Middlebury Chocolates
Impact
Steve Almond, author of The Candy Freak, recently wrote a piece in the NYT Magazine effectively calling for a ban on American football. Well, such a sacrilege on this, the most holy weekend of the secular calendar. It compels dropping “candy” from his book’s title to describe Almond's position more succinctly, no matter how sound his logic (quite sound, in fact).
C’mon, now. Football rises to the level of The New Religion in the USA. A day of holy obligation every Sinday. Beyond a national holiday, the Super Bowl itself is an int’l event of planetary proportions. Indeed, Christmas trees around here don’t come down until the winner hoists that championship trophy sometime around midnight after the game.
Whether tailgating or partying in a bar or at some friend’s house, players mauling then maiming opponents on the field of play & fans stuffing mouths with as much salt, fat & sugar as possible off the field go hand-in-hand while watching the action on flat screens (including those “in attendance” inside their luxury loges… viewing those slow-motion replays of bone-crushing tackles, all mic’d up, can be very arousing… releasing such stimulation amongst the blue-collars in the bleachers who spend less for their ticket than the super-class does just in getting to the ballpark... well, that'd be heresy).
So what better way to celebrate your own personal touchdown & that of your team’s than with some All-American chocolate? Might even prolong the sensation. And should the halftime entertainment flop, just flip over to this channel:
La Redneck reality chocolate.
Couple hillbillies, say, Larry the Cable Guy & Willie Robertson, go off to a college town like Middlebury, VT carrying some of their sugared moonshine with 'em.
Stuff gets out of control real easy & all goes coconuts 'n bonkers.
REDUX REVIEW -- below are segments of Middlebury's Belize 80%, initially released in 2013, followed by a refresher in 2014
C’mon, now. Football rises to the level of The New Religion in the USA. A day of holy obligation every Sinday. Beyond a national holiday, the Super Bowl itself is an int’l event of planetary proportions. Indeed, Christmas trees around here don’t come down until the winner hoists that championship trophy sometime around midnight after the game.
Whether tailgating or partying in a bar or at some friend’s house, players mauling then maiming opponents on the field of play & fans stuffing mouths with as much salt, fat & sugar as possible off the field go hand-in-hand while watching the action on flat screens (including those “in attendance” inside their luxury loges… viewing those slow-motion replays of bone-crushing tackles, all mic’d up, can be very arousing… releasing such stimulation amongst the blue-collars in the bleachers who spend less for their ticket than the super-class does just in getting to the ballpark... well, that'd be heresy).
So what better way to celebrate your own personal touchdown & that of your team’s than with some All-American chocolate? Might even prolong the sensation. And should the halftime entertainment flop, just flip over to this channel:
La Redneck reality chocolate.
Couple hillbillies, say, Larry the Cable Guy & Willie Robertson, go off to a college town like Middlebury, VT carrying some of their sugared moonshine with 'em.
Stuff gets out of control real easy & all goes coconuts 'n bonkers.
REDUX REVIEW -- below are segments of Middlebury's Belize 80%, initially released in 2013, followed by a refresher in 2014
Appearance 4.2 / 5
| Color: | pale rouge |
| Surface: | pedestrian |
| Temper: | grainy |
| Snap: | code breaker... deciphers the crystals loud & clear |
Aroma 8.6 / 10
2013
dried out
tobacco & green olive rid the cobwebs & more threads (cotton, flax, linen) + anti-caking powder
hearts of artichoke in their wake
2014
cologne fragrant
dried out
tobacco & green olive rid the cobwebs & more threads (cotton, flax, linen) + anti-caking powder
hearts of artichoke in their wake
2014
cologne fragrant
Mouthfeel 12.4 / 15
| Texture: | 2013 parched; 2014 better irrigation |
| Melt: | 2013 gum; 2014 no wads but still somewhat elastic |
Flavor 40.2 / 50
2013
easy caramel against a bending bamboo counter -> sugar / fruit complex (sucrose / apricot), savored with saline (nice touch) -> coconut (husk & all) + some aminos, particularly the umami glutamine -> straightens up some with sapote mash -> metallic iron & magnesium streak to lime -> stemwinding coconut-rum toddy -> lumbering finish (immortelle & roblé)
2014
strangely, that rather resinous quality discerned in Middlebury's Belize re-surfaces here (where it shouldn't) along with pronounced coconut (palm, shell & meat) -> molasses rum
easy caramel against a bending bamboo counter -> sugar / fruit complex (sucrose / apricot), savored with saline (nice touch) -> coconut (husk & all) + some aminos, particularly the umami glutamine -> straightens up some with sapote mash -> metallic iron & magnesium streak to lime -> stemwinding coconut-rum toddy -> lumbering finish (immortelle & roblé)
2014
strangely, that rather resinous quality discerned in Middlebury's Belize re-surfaces here (where it shouldn't) along with pronounced coconut (palm, shell & meat) -> molasses rum
Quality 14.9 / 20
Middlebury Chocolate drafting off another of Alex "Taza" Whitmore's cacáo ventures to compliment its 80% Belize offering.
Unlike that, this enjoys a fuller, more active ferment from a co-op that faced some adversities, albeit weighed down by palm sugar.
If barsmiths insist on deploying this ancient sweetener, the newest-fangled sucrose in the West, then they'd be well-served to study up on pairing (the interactions of bio-chemistry & flavor compounds) since palm sugar imparts far less neutrality than refined cane sugar.
Though outgunned 3-to-1 in this 75% cocoa-content bar, palm's heavier minerals subdue the lighter esters found in La Red's cacáo. Hence, this becomes as much an exposé on the sugar sap than on the cocoa nuts.
2014
Perhaps traces in Middlebury's tanks still suggest a former sweetener used in this bar. But only to a degree. By replacing coconut palm sugar with cane sugar, this bar ironically displays more base coconut flavor… scratching' the head & goin' bananas.
INGREDIENTS: cocoa mass, palm sugar (2013) / cane suagr (2014), sea salt
Reviewed July 2, 2013
Revised January 31, 2014
Unlike that, this enjoys a fuller, more active ferment from a co-op that faced some adversities, albeit weighed down by palm sugar.
If barsmiths insist on deploying this ancient sweetener, the newest-fangled sucrose in the West, then they'd be well-served to study up on pairing (the interactions of bio-chemistry & flavor compounds) since palm sugar imparts far less neutrality than refined cane sugar.
Though outgunned 3-to-1 in this 75% cocoa-content bar, palm's heavier minerals subdue the lighter esters found in La Red's cacáo. Hence, this becomes as much an exposé on the sugar sap than on the cocoa nuts.
2014
Perhaps traces in Middlebury's tanks still suggest a former sweetener used in this bar. But only to a degree. By replacing coconut palm sugar with cane sugar, this bar ironically displays more base coconut flavor… scratching' the head & goin' bananas.
INGREDIENTS: cocoa mass, palm sugar (2013) / cane suagr (2014), sea salt
Reviewed July 2, 2013
Revised January 31, 2014