Chocolate of the Day
Honoka'a Chocolate
70% Cacao Kuleana Barrel Aged Rum Bar
Good ++ - Good +++
Weight: 1 oz. (28.3 g.) / 2 oz. (57 g.) in total bar
Calories: 180 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $16.00 (estimate) (1 of 3 bar trio for $48.00)
Purchased from: Honoka'a Chocolate, online order
Welcome to Day #19 of Chocolate and Hawaii Theme Week; and Day #1 of Chocolate and Spirits Theme Week.
Today's 70% Kuleana Barrel Aged Rum Bar (bar) was from Honoka'a Chocolate (Honoka'a, HI). Honoka'a is a small town on the Hamakua coast on the northeast side of Hawai'i. Kuleana Rum Works is also located on the Big Island.
Aroma notes included: subtle dark chocolate; faint sweet green (tree/maple syrup, very faint banana, and even fainter Mediterranean green walnuts in sweet syrup/honey); faint, fleeting herbal (almost, but not quite licorice/fennel) and warm spirits (high-quality rum; maybe a little rum baba without all the sugar) and a little oak.
Texture: silky smooth, with a luxurious, buttery (almost dairy milk/cream) mouthfeel and melt. (Note: there were no milk/dairy ingredients listed.)
Flavor notes included: dark chocolate (attractive and tasty dark chocolate ganache with faint sweet green), with flavorful hints of faint rum, caramel and oak.
I really liked the luxurious, silken texture and the subtle and intriguing complexity.
The aging/soaking of cacao nibs in spirits and in oak barrels often results in some very attractive, full-bodied flavors. Today's Barrel Aged Rum Bar was a great example of how well these techniques can work.
I also really appreciated the very short list of (in case case, two) high-quality ingredients, and the use of Hawai'i grown cacao, in all the Honoaka'a bars I tried this week.
Ingredients: "100% Hawai'i island cacao, organic turbinado cane sugar. Cacao nibs and rum are aged in oak barrels for 4-5 months before processing into chocolate."
Allergen-related information: ("Gluten Free, Fair Trade, Non GMO, Vegan, Dairy Free")
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