Rozsavolgyi Csokolade - Beer vs. Cocoa Malt & Hops in Dark Chocolate (bar) - Feb. 8, 2025

Chocolate of the Day

Rozsavolgyi Csokolade 
Beer vs. Cocoa Malt & Hops in Dark Chocolate (bar)
Good + - Good ++
Weight: 1.23 oz. (35 g.) / 2.47 oz. (70 g.) in total bar
Calories: 212 calories in approximately 1/2 bar
Cost: $16.99 for 1 bar
Purchased from: DeLaurenti, online order

Welcome to Day #11 of Unique Chocolates Week, including this high-end, novelty specialty chocolate made with beer candy, malt and hops. 

Today's Beer vs. Cocoa Malt & Hops in Dark Chocolate (bar) was from Rozsavolgyi Csokolade Kft (Budapest, Hungary).

Aroma notes included: unsweetened, very slightly bitter, malty chocolate biscuit (cookie)

This bar had a fun, crunchy + creamy texture. The chocolate had a crunchy element (from tiny pieces of malty beer candy I'm assuming); but it quickly resolved into smooth, creamy dark chocolate.

Flavor notes for this creative flavor collaboration included relatively rich/bold dark chocolate with a slight bitterness (likely due to the hops); and one or two bites had some bitter and earthiness. 

The individual cacao and beer elements were artfully blended. No small feat, given the flavor forces at work here were tugging playfully at each other. Ultimately, the combination worked; and no one flavor dominated the other too much.

Disclosure: I enjoy slightly bitter flavors, especially when they're well-balanced with just a pinch of sugar and/or salt. That includes some bitter cacao and nibs, but also flavor inclusions like hops or some citrus fruits/rinds in blends.

Maker's description: "Who will win the fight? The hops add all their bitterness and frantic aromas, the malt its caramel flavor. But will this be enough for the beer to win? Who knows? We made candy from the beer, which made the hops-flavored, fruity-fermented dark chocolate even more exciting."

Ingredients: dark chocolate (Cocoa beans, organic cane sugar, organic cocoa butter, cocoa cont. min. 73%), beer candy (beer, organic cane sugar, chestnut honey, organic cocoa butter, malt), hops

Allergen-related information: "Produced in a factory that also handles nuts, sesame seed and milk powder."

 

Indulgence Chocolatiers - Porter 58% bar + Jelina Chocolatier - Maple Milk Chocolate bar - Dec. 22, 2017

Chocolate(s) of the Day: 

Indulgence Chocolatiers, LLC
Porter 58% Cacao Dark Chocolate with Espresso, Malt and Roasted Barley bar
Good - Good +
Weight: .14 oz. (4 g.) / 3.5 oz. (99.22 g.) in total bar
Calories: 23.5 calories in 1 square of bar
Cost: N/A - gift (thank you Kaitlin!)
Purchased from: N/A - gift

Welcome to Day #3 of Chocolate, Holiday Spices and Maple Theme Week. Today, we're blessed with two holiday bars.

The first bar, a Porter 58% Cacao Dark Chocolate bar with Espresso, Malt and Roasted Barley bar from Indulgence Chocolatiers, LLC (Milwaukee, WI), was a surprise gift—acquired on a vacation trip and generously shared with Chocolate Banquet.

What an intriguing, complex dark aroma this bittersweet chocolate bar had. Espresso powder added some rich depth as did roasted barley and malted milk powder.

I spent an indulgently long time just enjoying whiffs of this chocolate, that also had faint hints of umami, tobacco, leather and spice. And the taste I had did not disappoint.

Jelina Chocolatier
(Galerie au Chocolat)
Maple Crunch (Sucre d'erable) Milk Chocolate bar
Good
Weight: 1.76 oz. (50 g.) / 3.52 oz. (100 g.) in total bar
Calories: 270 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $ missing information
Purchased from: missing information

Today's second bar was a Maple Crunch Milk Chocolate bar from Jelina Chocolatier (Montreal, QC, Canada).

Holiday childhood memories included real stalks of sugar cane* and maple sugar candy. The sugar cane yielded less sugar than you might expect, but kept children busy as gnawing rodents on Christmas morning.

On the other hand, the maple-leaf shaped pieces of maple sugar candy (imported from exotic Canada or Vermont) were dazzlingly sweet in their final, processed form. They yielded such a super-charged maple sweetness that it was almost impossible to eat more than 1 or 2 pieces at one sitting.

However, the sensation of the slightly crystalline maple crunch and velvety maple melt still lingers. It was also present in today's Maple Crunch Milk Chocolate bar.

This bar appears as a second chocolate today because I've already had a similar maple milk chocolate bar from Galerie au Chocolat. (I discovered Galerie au Chocolat operates with the name Jelina Chocolatier in the U.S.) Thank goodness for Google spreadsheets and search.

*It's harder to get a sugar rush if you have to chew and suck the sugary plant liquid in its raw, diluted form from a large, hard stalk of actual sugar cane. 

Three Twins Ice Cream - Organic Chocolate Malt - July 30, 2016

Chocolate of the Day: 

Three Twins Ice Cream
Organic Chocolate Malt ice cream
Good +
Weight: 1/8 cup (21.25 g.) / 1 Pint (473 mL) in 1 container
Calories: 52.5 calories in 1/8 cup serving
Cost: $1.99 (estimate) for 1 pint container
Purchased from: Grocery Outlet Bargain Market, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #5 of Chilled Chocolate Theme Week.

Today's Organic and Fair Trade Certified Chocolate Malt Ice Cream was from Three Twins (Petaluma, CA).

This chocolate ice cream was suffused with a classic and natural-tasting malt flavor. Malted milk and related malt shop offerings of childhood likely served as an inspiration for today's Organic Chocolate Malt Ice Cream; only this creamy dessert was implemented with a level of higher quality than I remember.

Technically, I haven't had malt anything for years*, but I made an exception here, and ate 1/4 of a typical serving. I've been a Three Twins ice cream fan for quite some time, so I couldn't resist.

*Malt is usually made from barley, and is not gluten free. Technically you could make malt from corn (using a similar process of soaking, sprouting, drying, etc.), but I have yet to do research into this area and which manufacturers might be using this process in conventional chocolate malt products.