Impact
Those skinny runway models dressed up in Patric’s other lovely bars go to pieces here, broken down into NIbs & head into recovery... to come out a composite of a male model with his sensitive inner-girl completely intact.
Basically Brüno coked up on oxy-contin (isn’t he always?) strutting his high-wire act.
Basically Brüno coked up on oxy-contin (isn’t he always?) strutting his high-wire act.
Appearance 5 / 5
| Color: | light titian |
| Surface: | immaculate face; all hell breaks out on the back studded, pocked, piled w/ NIbs |
| Temper: | shimmering matte |
| Snap: | maracas shakin’ the eardrums |
Aroma 7.8 / 10
NIbs carry it, cut by quartz crystal then lightly sprayed in pineapple mist -> underlying malted-starch from a cycad bush, almost fustian (a wool 'n cotton blend) -> pinenuts & wood over cocoa-paste
Mouthfeel 12.4 / 15
| Texture: | wild dichotony of dry-liquid... |
| Melt: | ... driftwood floating downstream |
Flavor 39.9 / 50
flash flood of vertiginous white fruit juice (champagne grapes, pineapple, litchi, & starfruit cocktail), lightning in the mouth -> reddens as Nibs wriggle about... a berry-bash really, hued w/ cranberry, juniper, schisandra, raspberry -> drying effect of Nibs takes hold, caustic but still bright poly-ester intensity... acids streaming... actually amplified by broken bits & pieces of cacáo rather than tempered -> finally some nuts (pignolia & filbert) undercuts acidity to balance -> pivot towards rare Madagascar mushroom -> dirties up clay & volcanic soil -> BANG, fruited-chocolate bang -> clears away pink-grapefruit tonic
Quality 15.1 / 20
Patric has done virtually every variation on the Mad theme (100% baking choc; Nibs by themselves; 75%; 70%, 67%... everything but a Dark-Milk which may be next). No bar-smith explores the island’s cacáo with as much range & depth.
Familiarity aside, way too top heavy (probable short roast) despite Nibs which lend some counterweight & much of that tactile body but contribute insufficiently to balance the flavor profile that it harkens back to Patric’s 67% rather than a 70.
Recent crops from the Sambirano Valley -- especially Bertil Åkesson's -- have been blistering tongues off with their hi-fruit acids / some real live fighting esters.
In yet another demonstration of intimate experience with the island, Patric’s handicraft capitalizes on a rich ferment & delivers sparkling clarity of Murano-glass quality (no one polishes them more clearly). One that the Snapple™ generation will want to gulp down.
ING: cacáo, sugar
Reviewed Autumn 2009
Familiarity aside, way too top heavy (probable short roast) despite Nibs which lend some counterweight & much of that tactile body but contribute insufficiently to balance the flavor profile that it harkens back to Patric’s 67% rather than a 70.
Recent crops from the Sambirano Valley -- especially Bertil Åkesson's -- have been blistering tongues off with their hi-fruit acids / some real live fighting esters.
In yet another demonstration of intimate experience with the island, Patric’s handicraft capitalizes on a rich ferment & delivers sparkling clarity of Murano-glass quality (no one polishes them more clearly). One that the Snapple™ generation will want to gulp down.
ING: cacáo, sugar
Reviewed Autumn 2009