My very first foray into barrel-aged chocolate started in Quito, Ecuador with a sq. of To’ak’s Islay Whisky Cask Aged. I immediately seen how clean it was, rather more mellow than any chocolate I had tried earlier than, however nonetheless deep and wealthy. There was no bitterness or sharpness, simply gentle cocoa, caramel, and honey. However above all, I tasted hints of peat smoke from the Laphroaig single malt barrel the cacao lived in for 3 years. The expertise left me pondering I had by no means really tasted chocolate the best way it was meant to be tasted earlier than.
Small-batch chocolate producers all over the world have realized over the previous couple of years that simply as barrel-aging imparts a wide selection of flavors into espresso, cocktails, sizzling sauce, and, in fact, wine and spirits, it might do the identical for chocolate. As a former whiskey-tasting information at Stranahan’s Distillery in Denver and a South America journey specialist, I get tremendous nerdy about this. And after attempting as many of those bars as I might get my arms on (all within the identify of analysis, in fact), I can let you know chocolate and barrel-aging could also be the very best match but.
Cacao is especially nicely suited to barrel-aging: Cacao beans are about 50 p.c fats. This fats, in any other case referred to as cacao butter, is extraordinarily absorptive. When the beans are positioned in a vessel, they simply decide up the pure notes of the wooden barrel and hints of the bourbon, rum, or different elements that beforehand inhabited the cask. (That is additionally why chocolate ought to by no means be saved within the fridge or freezer, as it might take in the flavors of that onion you’ve been storing subsequent to it.) These flavors of vanilla, caramel, and even espresso and coconut, complement and spotlight the cacao bean’s personal pure taste profiles.
Although the flavour profile of barrel-aged chocolate is usually delicate — suppose mild oak and the essence of spirit — some firms may even straight-up soak the cacao beans with spirits whereas concurrently growing old them within the barrel, or add spirits to the chocolate bar, relying on the ultimate taste profiles they’re trying to obtain. And since barrel-aging chocolate is basically solely in its infancy, the mixtures of barrel and bar will in all probability show to be infinite. From delicate vanilla and oak to vibrant and fruit-forward, there’s fairly a spread to attempt now.
Barrel-Aged Chocolate Bars to Purchase Now
To’ak, from Quito, Ecuador, has carried out a deep dive into this growing old method, experimenting with round 40 totally different vessel sorts like sherry, rum, and tequila casks, in addition to Ecuadorean wooden containers that the corporate builds by hand. And it has examined the unbelievable absorptive powers of chocolate even additional, growing old its product in a vessel together with strongly fragrant elements like Ecuadorean palo santo and Kampot pepper. To’ak’s hottest batches thus far have been the 2014 Cognac Cask Aged, 2014 Islay Cask Aged, and 2018 Ecuadorian Rum Cask Aged batches. Its bars are made out of heirloom Arriba Nacional beans, a uncommon sort of cacao famend for its fruity, floral notes and lack of bitterness.
Ritual, which has a manufacturing facility, cafe, and tasting room situated in Heber Metropolis, Utah, produces an award-winning Bourbon Barrel Aged bar, made out of cacao nibs aged for a number of months in former bourbon barrels from Park Metropolis’s Excessive West Distillery. This one is the oakiest of the bunch I attempted. Tasting it felt like licking the within of a barrel, in a very great way. It’s precisely what I had in thoughts after I considered what barrel-aged chocolate may very well be like — subtly smoky with notes of charred oak and vanilla.
Raaka, from Brooklyn, ages single-origin Tanzanian cacao in bourbon casks for 2 months, leading to its best-selling bar with a “cocktail-like vibe,” based on its web site. It’s oaky and clean, with hints of cherry cordial. This bar was surprisingly tangy as a result of unroasted cacao nibs Raaka makes use of to seize the brilliant and fruity pure traits of the uncooked chocolate.
Askinosie, based mostly in Springfield, Missouri, aged its Tanzanian cacao nibs in oak whiskey barrels for 5 years to create a really restricted batch of its Barrel-Aged Darkish Chocolate bar, which promptly received 4 awards and offered out. Maintain a watch out, as Askinosie expects to launch its second batch in 2024.
Kasama Chocolate, from Vancouver, British Columbia, has been round since 2015 however has already received a number of awards, together with one for its distinctive Wallflower Gin bar. This 70 p.c cacao bar is made out of Papua New Guinea cacao beans, that are soaked in Odd Society Distillery’s Wallflower Gin inside an oak cask for 4 weeks. The result’s a floral, botanical bar with notes of evergreen and orange blossom. Kasama’s lineup of barrel-aged chocolate additionally contains bars made out of beans aged in Portuguese Madeira wine barrels, Tanduay Rum barrels, and Canadian single malt whiskey barrels.
Dick Taylor, from Eureka, California, produces a straight bourbon whiskey bar made out of Belize cacao nibs aged for six months in bourbon barrels. This was essentially the most spirit-forward of the bars I attempted — very sturdy and spicy.
Fruition, from the Catskills in upstate New York, is the last word consolation chocolate. Its Hudson Valley Darkish Milk bar is crafted from cacao from the Dominican Republic aged with bourbon barrel staves which have been soaked in Hudson Child Bourbon. Bryan Graham, co-founder of Fruition, has a barely totally different method to barrel-aging. He disassembles the barrels and ages the cacao nibs with the person staves of the barrel to maximise the floor space that the nibs come into contact with. The cacao is then mixed with entire milk powder, leading to a creamy, dense bar with heat, wealthy caramel and vanilla oak.
Honoka‘a Chocolate Firm, from Honokaʻa on the Huge Island of Hawai‘i, created its Drunken Goat Milk bar from cacao nibs soaked in Kahlúa inside oak barrels. A contact of goat milk is added to the ultimate bar for a bit sharpness to the creamy, mellow chocolate. Honokaʻa additionally produces a barrel-aged rum bar and a barrel-aged bourbon bar, utilizing the same course of the place the cacao nibs are soaked in rum or bourbon, respectively, whereas growing old in an oak barrel. Honoka‘a is probably one of the prolific barrel-aged chocolate producers on the market, presently experimenting with round 50 barrels which might be obtainable solely to its month-to-month subscribers. Co-founder Mike Pollard says he was impressed to attempt barrel-aging after working on the native rum distillery and sugarcane farm Kuleana Rum Works.
Marci Vaughn Kolt is a customized journey specialist, journey author, and photographer presently based mostly in Denver with a concentrate on all issues South America and the polar areas. Comply with her on Instagram @whereintheworldismarci
