Fall Chocolate Salon - San Francisco - Nov. 15, 2015

Fall Chocolate Salon 2015 - San Francisco, CA
Sun., Nov. 15, 2015

This year's Fall (6th annual San Francisco) Chocolate Salon was held at a new venue—the General's Residence, in Fort Mason, San Francisco, CA.

This historic building provided an attractive, multi-room space for chocolate makers, chocolatiers, craft spirits makers, perfumers, vintners and others to display their offerings. (And the views of Aquatic Park, Alcatraz and San Francisco Bay weren't bad either.)

Amano Artisan Chocolate (Orem, UT) was displaying new packaging (and larger bars). I enjoyed discussing single origin bars and new bars with flavor inclusions with founder Art Pollard's two sons.

There were plenty of great Bay Area chocolatiers there. I picked up some velvety Pumpkin Spice Truffles and very tasty Nib Brittle from Neo Cocoa (San Francisco, CA); truffles from CocoTutti; tiny individually wrapped caramels from Kindred Cooks (Campbell, CA); creamy, flavorful chocolates from Alexander's Patisserie (Mountain View, CA); and artful pieces with layered flavors from flying noir (Oakland, CA).

While in search of some smoky and umami flavors, I picked up a bottle of great, complex Bourbon (made from corn and rye) from Raff Distillerie (Treasure Island, San Francisco). What a great aroma; and I'm looking forward to sampling it with chocolates. I also enjoyed the spirits (a crisp Gin with citrus notes; a well-rounded Rhum Agricole; and an Absinthe with French roots) from Sonoma County Distilling Co. (Rohnert Park, CA).

I enjoyed saying hello to Alter Eco (San Francisco, CA) and The Tea Room Chocolate and Tea Co. (San Leandro, CA).

And, after nine years of eating different chocolates, I still love meeting new creative people who are making chocolates. New chocolate conversations this year were had with Firefly Chocolate (Windsor, CA); Endorfin Foods (Oakland, CA); Starchild Chocolate (Willets, CA); Fera'wyn's Artisan Chocolates; and Cowboy Toffee Co. (Oakdale, CA).