Bolivar
by Cacaoyere
Impact
A bar that reconstitutes the history of Latin America in damaging the reputation of its most venerable leader – one of humanity’s towering figures.
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Appearance 4.4 / 5
| Color: | dark violet |
| Surface: | well-molded; fine grease splatter on back |
| Temper: | absorbent sheen |
| Snap: | midrange volley |
Aroma 6.8 / 10
mucilage-wet ferment ‘n dry cycle: raisin bran rooted in a tuber fest (potato, peppery mashua, papalisa aka ulluco, jicama, ocas) drenched by a Cab-cheese funk poured on top & some strong dooky underfoot -> steps into gooey tar, then burning rubber (suspect roast) -> pulverized spice
Mouthfeel 12 / 15
| Texture: | “everything that enters the body, adds weight, & everything that leaves it is debased” (Marquez)... & quite astringently |
| Melt: | sluggish but steady |
Flavor 39.6 / 50
anchors away off cinnamon -> burnt cocoa -> tangled up in grains (blue maize, soy, quinoa & mashua) -> browned sugar + barley (basically chocolate con máchica) faint citrus (ocas & grapefruit) -> a drop of puntas / aguardiente (firewater), specifically the aniseseed Tropico™ brand made from sugar cane, then buried for years... the kind of stuff that reminds even at this micro-dose just how lethal alcohol can rot the gut (nearly vomits blood) -> loses its bollard & grows constipated on butter blandishments -> dead-end rice pudding -> recovers w/ a nice soda-sassafras close -> cool cocoa finish in almond milk
Quality 15.7 / 20
Classic ‘up river’ Arriba – that is, what classic stands for nowadays: hybrids. A cruel doubling back in the truest sense of a labyrinth to the great Ecuador cacáo of yore... the closer we come to it, the farther away it goes. And this doesn’t really go anywhere... unless the end is the beginning is the end. Even then, a bit devoid of aromatics.
The audacity of it all: where S-B’s Cuyagua is a true chocolate Bolívar, this may be no mere imposter but, in character with the historical figure himself, a bit contradicted & constipated.
Frightfully bold opening (killed the roast), then just goes momenetarily bland, almost blank. Only a fair balance holds its stately poise to prevent an all-out insurgency. Flavor ultimately unrealized. Pick the poison: an incomplete ferment (does hardly any juice pulp penetrate these beans?) or Cacaoyere conched it all off. Considering the Textural dynamics, bet mostly on the latter. In either event, suboptimum drying adds to the confabulation of woes, as does the genetic selection.
Reflects the maze of problems for Ecuador cacáo in particular and the species as a whole. Both serve as a metaphor for the overarching tragedy called Latin America. How it strangely manages to win any respect is a function of its 80% class & sympathy for the hard-working people who labored to harvest it – namely, the Quechua.
Viva la retro-chocolate revolución!
ING: cocoa mass, sugar, cacáo butter, soy lecithin
Reviewed Summer 2010
The audacity of it all: where S-B’s Cuyagua is a true chocolate Bolívar, this may be no mere imposter but, in character with the historical figure himself, a bit contradicted & constipated.
Frightfully bold opening (killed the roast), then just goes momenetarily bland, almost blank. Only a fair balance holds its stately poise to prevent an all-out insurgency. Flavor ultimately unrealized. Pick the poison: an incomplete ferment (does hardly any juice pulp penetrate these beans?) or Cacaoyere conched it all off. Considering the Textural dynamics, bet mostly on the latter. In either event, suboptimum drying adds to the confabulation of woes, as does the genetic selection.
Reflects the maze of problems for Ecuador cacáo in particular and the species as a whole. Both serve as a metaphor for the overarching tragedy called Latin America. How it strangely manages to win any respect is a function of its 80% class & sympathy for the hard-working people who labored to harvest it – namely, the Quechua.
Viva la retro-chocolate revolución!
ING: cocoa mass, sugar, cacáo butter, soy lecithin
Reviewed Summer 2010