HIGH PR%F

cacao • tea • coffee • whiskey • etc please send in your finds

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Oh man. This stuff is TROUBLE. Corsair Ryemageddon is an American rye whiskey that's distilled from malted and chocolate rye. I tried it at Tsunami because it had a funny name. Little did I realize that it was the only whiskey I'd ever tasted that had cacao notes that weren't runny or unrealistic (like Prichard's). Mary secretly found a bottle and surprised me with it a few months ago, and we made it last as long as we could. Now begins the search for the next, as this will be a mainstay on the shelf at home.

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Soma Chocolatemaker Stratus Bar on Flickr.

The only way I can describe the Stratus chocolate bar from the excellent Soma Chocolatemaker in Toronto, Canada, is “floaty” or “airy.” This bar is made with the “lees,” or residual yeast cells leftover from the winemaking process, combined with chocolate from Ocumare, Venezuela. It doesn’t taste like chocolate. If you aren’t prepared for it, you may be disappointed if you’re looking for that big CHOCOLATE taste. Instead, what you get is a bit more red wine-ish, like a Cotes du Rhone, and less complexity or bitterness on the finish. Every person I’ve let have a taste of this bar has gone “wow” afterwards at how unusually it sits on the palate and floats away much like a wine. This was part of Soma’s experimental chocolate-making effort and is still available at chocolate shops like Fog City News in SF. I recommend having it as part of a chocolate tasting and seeing how it throws other people for a loop.

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Mary and I hit up the World of Whiskey event in SF for the first time. So. Much. Whiskey. And on a boat! Who thought it was a good idea to offer tastes of 100s of free whiskeys on a boat over two hours? Well, we were strategic in the 25+ whiskeys we tried, and in a few cases, we went back and tried them again because they were SO GOOD. And we walked off that boat sober, because we are professionals.

Here were the top ones we’d experienced. Note on our methodology: We only chose to sample whiskeys we had never tried before, were not easily / affordably available in the Bay Area, and in some cases were from regions or providers that we would normally never try. (Such as Islay scotches.)

Without further ado…

Top Single Malt Scotch of the evening: Duncan Taylor Dimensions Glentauchers 5 Year Single Malt Scotch. Big, surprising, fruitier than you would think, and more integrated and sophisticated than you may expect from a 5 year Scotch. Good luck finding this, as each Dimensions scotch is a single cask that’s bottled. 55.6% ABV. $100.

Best Single Malt Whisky from Asia: Kavalan Solist Vinho Single Cask Strength Single Malt Whisky. This Taiwanese whiskey is matured in used, re-toasted American oak wine barrels, which lends to its fruity and spicy taste. It was bold and a bit stronger in complexion than their King Car Conductor Scotch which was also delicious. 55–60% ABV depending on the cask. It’ll run you about $140 if you can find it.

Best Single Malt Whisky from the EU (not Scotland): Distillerie Warenghem Armorik Sherry Finish Single Malt Breton Whisky, Bretagne, France. Yes, it’s from France. Yes, it’s delicious, influenced by the sherry casks, with minimal peat and smoke, a little bit of salt. Definitely worth a try. 46% ABV. $60.

Top New Single Malt Whisky from the US: Defiant American Single Malt Whisky. Subtle, lovely, clean and simple, from North Carolina if you can believe it. We tasted the first barrel. Trying to get distribution in California liquor stores, get on it people!!

Best American Whisky: High West Midsummer Night’s Dram. Ok, we are biased because we went to the High West master class at the event and have been avid consumers of their Campfire, Rendezvous, and pre-batched cocktails for some time. The Dram is the High West Rendezvous blended rye that’s been finished in port and French oak barrels. Tastes like Christmas. It’s a limited release and may be hard to find, but more is said to be on the way. $90 if you’re lucky. (BTW, thanks to David Perkins for picking Mary’s name out of a hat and awarding us a lovely High West pitcher for Manhattans. And now we have a good reason to visit their distillery in Park City next ski season.)

Biggest surprise of the evening: Kilchoman Sherry Matured Single Cask Release. DAMN. This scotch is FRIGGING HUGE. It will take over your nose like Spartans invading Attica. Starts out with peat smoke but explodes into gigantic wine-like fruit and relaxes into spice at some point when you’re just starting to recover. Three sips and you’re done for the evening. 59.3% ABV. $130.

Best Scotch to get your friends to try Scotch: Brenne Whisky. A French single malt whisky that’s aged in Cognac barrels and would make for a great close to any meal. This is a whole different kind of entry point into the whiskey family and would be great to pair with chocolate or any type of fruit dessert. We closed out the evening with this single malt, and it was well worth the wait. $80.

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I do love the coffee at Houndstooth in Austin, Texas. One of the places to definitely hit for quality coffee, right off Congress. Tastes good with the local Great Bean Raw Chocolate, for a local double-whammy.

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Two years ago, when I was passing through London’s Heathrow Airport, Balvenie had just released their Triple Cask line of Scotches in 12, 16, and 25-year varieties (only available in duty free, not listed on Balvenie's website). As it says on the World Duty Free site: 

“The Balvenie Triple Cask series have been matured in three kinds of wood – ‘traditional refill casks’ to mature and mellow the spirit, but not dominate its flavour; ‘first-fill ex-Bourbon barrels’, which add vanilla and coconut to the flavour; and ‘first-fill Oloroso sherry butts’, which typically impart rich dried fruits and spice to the spirit… The spirit matured in these three kinds of cask is then married in a large vat, called a ‘marrying tun’ for around six months, ‘so the whiskies can get to know one another’. This used to be common practice, but is less so today.”

I had a chance to taste all of them, and per the above, they are lovely Scotches with a bit more smoothness than the traditional Balvenie lineup. Whenever I travel to or from Europe, I try to pick up a bottle of the 12 year, which is a steal for the very generous one liter bottle and how great it tastes as an after-dinner drink with anything chocolate.

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I tried a few of these raw chocolate bars from Great Bean Raw Chocolate when I was in Austin, Texas to co-lead a workshop at SxSW 2014. My favorite so far is the Figs & Cinnamon Bar with “Love Herbs.” While I am a huge fan of raw chocolates in general, especially the work of Claudio Corrallo, I will say that this is one of the few brands I’ve tried that tastes… healthy. Not that this is a poor virtue to have in a chocolate bar—especially one that is organic, fair trade, sustainably produced, etc.—but the combination of herbs and fruit does overpower the chocolate-ness of the bar, even at its high cacao percentage. Give it a whirl and see if you like it.

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When I was in Germany this summer, I sampled many different chocolate bars. One of my favorite flavored bars was from Zotter, an Austrian chocolate maker, and it was called the Scotch Whiskey “Highland Harvest.” While many of the bars I’ve tried from them verge into candy-land, this one was the real deal for anyone like me who loves chocolate and whiskey. Even though it only has a shelf life of five months, it's unlikely it will last more than a few minutes once you have a taste.

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When visiting my friends Pen and Andrew in Seattle, they tactfully urged me to drink some of this lovely John Jacob whiskey from Mischief Distillers. I was more than happy to oblige. 

Out of many of the new breed of craft distillers in Seattle, this one leapt out to me with its creamy, vanilla taste, which I could sip for hours and place along some of my other favorites like Elmer T. Lee and Black Maple Hill. I noticed on their website they are listing the RYE whiskey, which is not what I tasted, but I’m looking forward to checking that one out as well.

The only major bummer about this bourbon is its price point. Purchasing it in Washington state puts a small bottle at approx. $40, which would get you a full bottle of a competing (and just as good) whiskey in California state, or two bottles of a mixing-grade bourbon. But hey, we gotta support our local businesses!

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Barlovento chocolates on Flickr.

Barlovento Chocolates are made in Oakland from Venezuelan chocolate and sold only at farmer’s markets and local stores. (I'm lucky in that I live by the Oakland farmer's market by the Grand Lake Theater, where they show up every Saturday.) My current favorite bar is the Halekala Red Sea Salt bar, really affordable at $3. Check their website out for more information on their bar and truffle lineup. They are very generous at the market with tastings of different truffles, I lean towards the Ultra Dark truffle, but the Meyer Lemon and Cardamom and Honey are also quite tasty.

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I love these containers made of recycled wood, and not just because they're full of tasty dark chocolate coins. I spotted these at Peter Beier Chocolade in Denmark. If you're passing through Copenhagen Airport you can snag one.

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I LOVE Marou Chocolate, which is "the first artisan chocolate maker based in Vietnam… working in close collaboration with farmers, cooperatives and cacao experts." My current favorite of theirs is the Ba Ria, noted on their website as having "powerfully aromatic chocolate made with beans from the hills of Ba Ria province, with exceptionally high fruit notes, possibly our most distinctive chocolate." I am also a fan of the Ben Tre 78%. 

They are top of my list for 2014 along with Dick Taylor Craft Chocolate and Twenty-Four Blackbirds. (Surprisingly, when I took a recent chocolate tour at Dandelion in SF, they listed these same producers.) 

When you see anything they make, buy it and try it.

(Top photo courtesy of Marou, bottom photos I took at Delaurenti's in Pike Place Market, Seattle and of a Ba Ria bar. Side note: I found a ton of their bars at a chocolate shop in Sweden over the summer, and their chocolate blew away anything I got locally in that country. Sorry, Sweden.)

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I really like Askinosie Chocolate's Tanzania chocolates, so Mary and I were ecstatic when they released this dark chocolate bar where they blend fresh-roasted peanut butter into this single varietal chocolate. To quote their website: "We add real, natural crunchy peanut butter (from Big Spoon Roasters) to our smoothest dark chocolate for a creamy bar reminiscent of a sophisticated peanut butter cup. We handcraft a 60% dark chocolate with cocoa beans sourced directly from farmers in Mababu, Tanzania then blend in the rich peanut butter, which perfectly complements the velvety chocolate."

I have tried a lot of chocolate bars where they blend nuts and/or butters into the chocolate, and it isn't quite integrated. This is the first time I've experienced such a subtle, perfect blend between cacao and peanut butter. Be aware that since there is peanut butter in the chocolate, it has a lower melting point and will get all over the place if you let it sit in your hand, not in your mouth.

GET YOURSELF SOME BEFORE MARY AND I EAT THEM ALL.

Image above sourced from and courtesy of Askinosie Chocolate. (Spoonful of peanut butter not included with the bar, sorry.) The bar was recommended to us by the fine proprietors of Artisanal Foods. I have yet to see it in the Bay Area.

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The Vieux Carre is one of my favorite whiskey drinks: bold, complex, layered, and when prepared correctly, packing a punch. Here's the recipe I've perfected from trying a variety of them around the Bay Area:

Vieux Carre 3/4 oz rye whiskey, I like using Rittenhouse 100) 3/4 oz cognac, not crappy please 1/2 oz Carpano Antica sweet vermouth 1/3 oz Benedictine 3 dashes Angostura bitters 3 dashes Peychaud's bitters

Put the above in a mixing glass with ice, stir generously, strain into a glass, and express lemon oil from a lemon peel onto the drink. Place the peel into the glass with one big ice cube (like the above). Enjoy.

(Photo above: A Vieux Carre at Tsunami Mission Bay, San Francisco, with Mary.)

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Images I took of Chök, off La Rambla in Barcelona, Spain. In this shop, you want to try EVERYTHING: their doughnuts, baked goods, and other delicious items on display. Their chocolate bars, however, was a bit disappointing except when paired with red wine.

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Xavier Mor Chocolatier - Orange in 73% Dark Chocolate on Flickr.

I got these dark chocolate “orange bombs” from Xavier Mor for my friend Kara, but we ended up eating a ton of them when I was staying with her in Munich. The packaging makes you feel like you’re popping pills... tasty pills. Probably my favorite flavored chocolate I tasted in Spain.

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If you are addicted to quality pour-over coffee, there are few places to get a solid cup in a city like Barcelona except Satan's Coffee Corner. Not only did they have excellent pour-over coffee from beans that they'd roasted locally, but they also had an equal level of dedication to carrying local quality baked goods and prepared foods from local producers. I had a cake with chocolate truffles baked inside it that was a perfect mix of sweet, delicious, and vaguely healthy (see above photo).

They've since expanded into a menu to go along with the food, experimenting with bringing their coffee into different foods and drinks: coffee beer, coffee-rolled aged meats, and so forth. With their new location in the Gothic Quarter, they're in a prime position to bring this style of coffee and quality cuisine into a city that has resisted the coffee craze thus far. And when I chatted with the proprietor, they were considering expanding into spirits in the evenings.

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The force noir is the true test of any chocolatier: making the most delicious truffle just from their base chocolate, sugar, cream, and few other ingredients. Most chocolatiers only create only a few force noirs as part of their truffle lineup, and many of the smaller shops or people just starting out create them from chocolate provided by other companies. This is what's known as a "fondeur": sourcing their chocolate from folks like Valrhona rather than creating their own direct relationships with farmers and making their own chocolate from scratch, bean to bar or truffle.

The tide has been turning on this, with many emerging and up-and-coming chocolatiers being strident about building relationships directly with farms and farmers, trying to create great chocolate along with sustainable business practices. A great company who's balancing excellent product with social good is Feve Artisan Chocolatier in San Francisco. And when it comes to the classic force noir truffle, they are not f&$king around. These truffles in their single origin box are crafted from single-origin chocolate from nine different locations. My friend Pen and I consumed a whole box over a weekend, and it was a delightful mix of different tastes, often from different regions within the same country. (I claimed all the ones from different farms in Venezuela. Each one was unique in its own way, from the complex taste profiles to the presentation of each individual truffle.)

I will say that these truffles are not big and not cheap for the per-piece cost, running $25 for the box at retail. But they are very good, and a great way to enjoy the unique consistencies and terroir of chocolate from around the world while supporting social good. Feve gives 5% of their profits back as micro-loans to these farmers, which is a great way to encourage their growth along with purchasing their beans. Just good luck finding their chocolate, as it can take some effort to track down and they rarely open their factory for people to purchase their chocolates.