Friday, December 4, 2020

Manoa Chocolate - Old Pali Road Whiskey 70% Dark Chocolate (bar) - Dec. 4, 2020

Chocolate of the Day

Manoa Chocolate
Old Pali Road Whiskey 70% Dark Chocolate bar
Good ++
Weight: 1.05 oz. (30 g.) / 2.1 oz. (60 g.) in total bar
Calories: 180 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $15.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Manoa Chocolate, Kailua, HI

Welcome to Day #13 of Chocolate and Hawaii Theme Week.

Today's Old Pali Road Whiskey 70% Dark Chocolate bar was from Manoa Chocolate (Kailua, HI). 

This dark chocolate was infused with a generous slug of Hawaiian-made whiskey.* The whiskey permeated both aroma and flavor. (It was strong enough that I wondered if I should drive after I finished.) There was no real need for concern here, though this fleeting thought illustrated the strength of this inclusion.

I liked these flavors. The whiskey did overpower more subtle notes from the chocolate. But the spirits and the dark chocolate harmonized well together. The melt and texture was creamy, almost a light whipped creamy--a perceived "lightness" that complemented the heavier whiskey and dark chocolate flavors.

Ingredients: Cacao, organic cane sugar, cocoa butter (Note: no whiskey listed was listed in this ingredients list, but I am guessing that this was left off the ingredients list accidentally. See below for additional information.)

*I found on the Manoa Chocolate website the following information about the whiskey source/distillery for a very similar (likely the same) bar: 

"In Kailua, O'ahu, minutes from our chocolate factory, Ko'olau Distillery makes Old Pali Road Whiskey (using water filtered through volcanic rock). (The distillery is now also making ethyl-alcohol based hand sanitizer for the Covid-19 pandemic.)

We then soak our Costa Esmeraldas (Ecuador) cacao nibs in their smooth and balanced whiskey and turn the flavored nibs into chocolate."

"Ingredients: whiskey soaked cacao, organic cane sugar, and cocoa butter."

Manoa Chocolate - Ko'olaupoko O'ahu Island Chocolate 70% Cacao (Winter Harvest) bar - Dec. 3, 2020

Chocolate of the Day

Manoa Chocolate
Ko'olaupoko O'ahu Island Chocolate 70% Cacao (Winter Harvest) (bar)
Good ++ - Good +++
Weight: 1.05 oz. (30 g.) /2.1 oz. (60 g.) in total bar
Calories: 180 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $24.00 for set of 2 bars ($12.00 for 1 bar)
Purchased from: Manoa Chocolate, online order

Welcome to Day #11 of Chocolate and Hawaii Theme Week.

Today's Ko'olaupoko O'ahu Island Chocolate 70% Cacao (Spring Harvest) bar was manufactured in Hawaii by Grass Shack Industries LLC/Manoa Chocolate (Kailua, HI).

What a great opportunity to compare two 70% cacao bars, both made from Hawaiian-grown cacao growing at the same location (Ko'olaupopo*, O'ahu Island), but harvested at two different times of the year (spring and winter). 

Today I'm featuring the Winter Harvest version of this bar. (Yesterday, I featured the Spring Harvest version of this bar.) 

This bar's aroma was slightly less green-forward, and had a more sweet dark chocolate and faint spiced fruit notes (peach, red berry). The green (green banana, green floral) was very similar to yesterday's (Spring Harvest) version. The melt and texture seemed thicker and creamier (fudgier).

The flavor of this (Winter Harvest) Ko'olaupoko bar also had a slightly more "uniform" taste and additional true dark chocolate (fudgey) and fruitiness (red berry/fruit, peach jam) and less pronounced green notes (green banana, floral and a very fleeting green nut/seed note) than its Spring Harvest sibling from the same location.

Manoa provided a helpful, side-by-side tasting wheel chart for the taster/consumer to record their own observations for the two 70% O'ahu bars in this tasting kit. I'm surprised I haven't seen an insert/card like this more often with other craft chocolate bars.

Ingredients: Cacao, organic cane sugar, cocoa butter

*Ko'olaupoko refers to a relatively small, windward district in Honolulu County, on the "east" shore of O'ahu. This district has some lush green areas where cacao grows (that are also near where this chocolate is made in Kailua).


Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...