Impact
Appearance 3.8 / 5
Color: | dangerously gorgeous; dense, dark oily brown |
Surface: | air holes the size of divots & craters, even caves for spelunking; + beige freckles (nibs popping thru) on backside |
Temper: | preening sheen |
Snap: | quiet thunder |
Aroma 7.4 / 10
firm & tall (confirms bold roast from the foreboding color): pita palm wood, tannic cocoa countering spice combo cut by a light vein Stilton blue cheese
Mouthfeel 11.7 / 15
Texture: | chitinous crunch; contrast of butter dissolving around gravelly nibs |
Melt: | lurches |
Flavor 40.3 / 50
gets right after it w/ chocolate-vanilla wood chips, the backdrop for entire length -> blackberry flailing -> smoothes out over a butter plain -> pecan on the heels of strong almond -> flirting floral suffers same fate as that earlier lone blackberry -> squashed in flat earth (coffee & palm)
Quality 15.8 / 20
Overbearing control to the point of restraint in service of harmonization. Slitti obviously concerned what nibs might do to color the flavor, & for good reason - they block & rub out a lot of florid-spice in an otherwise optimal roast & conch of the underlying bar, while adding back heavier notes like nuts. The result somewhat generic, bordering dull, & calling into question the use of Nacional in this way.