Nuance Chocolate
Spirit Series - Cherry Whiskey 70% Dark (bar)
Good ++ - Good +++
Weight: 1 oz. (28 g.) / 1.9 oz. (55 g.) in total bar
Calories: 155 calories (estimate) in 1/2 bar
Cost: $17.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Nuance Chocolate, order by phone/online
Good ++ - Good +++
Weight: 1 oz. (28 g.) / 1.9 oz. (55 g.) in total bar
Calories: 155 calories (estimate) in 1/2 bar
Cost: $17.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Nuance Chocolate, order by phone/online
Welcome to Day #5 of Chocolate and Spirits Theme Week. And Happy 19th Year of Chocolate Banquet.*
Today's Spirit Series - Cherry Whiskey 70% Dark (bar) (Batch #40413) was from Nuance Chocolate (Fort Collins, CO). Nuance is a small-batch, bean-to-bar maker producing high-end bars and confections.
This bar was a Colorado collaboration between Nuance Chocolate's blend of premium cacao beans and a lovely whiskey from Leopold Bros., an independently-owned distillery in Denver, CO.
Aroma notes for this chocolate (from Nuance Chocolate's "Spirit Series" of bars) included: rich, smooth chocolate-y chocolate with subtle, rounded red fruit notes (cherry) and faint spirits (whiskey, brown sugar, oak, vanilla).
Texture: Pleasing, hearty, creamy melt and mouthfeel. Just the right thickness, that enabled easy access to aroma and flavors as well as a great melt.
Flavor notes included: deeper, richer, smooth dark chocolate and more of the layered spirits (whiskey) notes mentioned above. Lingering, balanced, cherry, chocolate-y (dark chocolate chips, chocolate torte, and the ghost-of-a-good-whiskey in the pleasant finish.
I loved the rich, nuanced flavors in this bar, all coaxed from just four ingredients. This subtly spirited 70% dark chocolate was great all by itself...
...But, if you want to fancy things up, this Cherry Whiskey bar could be a part of a dessert plate, a chocolate and spirits flight, or incorporated into almost any chocolate dessert. There was enough natural sweetness to evoke a high-end chocolate cocktail or a slightly-spiked hot chocolate. Warm and inviting; nothing too harsh or spiky. Relatively low in acidity and bitterness. Versatile and classy, with warm overtones.
Maker's description: "A transcendent pairing of barrel-aged Leopold Brothers Cherry Whiskey and a special blend of fully-fermented cacao from around the world. First on the palate is chocolate, followed by cherry, whiskey and charred-oak barrel. No trickery--just cacao, cane sugar and real American whiskey."
Ingredients: "cacao, cane sugar, cocoa butter, cherry whiskey."
Allergen-related information: "Manufactured in a facility that also processes tree nuts, peanuts, milk, eggs, wheat, and soy."
*Chocolate Banquet is the blog-site that celebrates cacao and chocolate makers--and has featured Corinne DeBra's tasting a different chocolate every day for (as of today) 19 years.
