Impact
The Brooklyn Blend... boasting cocoa beans sourced in Venezuela, D.R., and Madagascar.
The Bros raise their mast sail high & cast a wider net beyond the single-origin fetish that rules the current chocolate scene. Brooklyn goes international like that because people born in those places -- as well as all over the world -- migrate in a tidal bore to live around the ‘hoods across the river from Manhattan.
A bar that plows up the term terroir, adding new dimension to it, making a ‘sense of place’ ever more... well, evasive... strangely foreign in an entirely down-home way.
It returns the Mast Bros to what they do best: expansion rather than limitations to their culinary skills in blending diverse ingredients together.
The Bros raise their mast sail high & cast a wider net beyond the single-origin fetish that rules the current chocolate scene. Brooklyn goes international like that because people born in those places -- as well as all over the world -- migrate in a tidal bore to live around the ‘hoods across the river from Manhattan.
A bar that plows up the term terroir, adding new dimension to it, making a ‘sense of place’ ever more... well, evasive... strangely foreign in an entirely down-home way.
It returns the Mast Bros to what they do best: expansion rather than limitations to their culinary skills in blending diverse ingredients together.
Appearance 3.6 / 5
| Color: | dark solid brown |
| Surface: | inconsistency from an uneven pour |
| Temper: | absorbent |
| Snap: | good click-clack |
Aroma 9.1 / 10
4 distinct quadrants: olive (D.R.) -> macadamia (Venzy) -> fermented mango (Mad) -> creeping vines (maybe Ecuador crept into the mix??) climb down to a sea grape -> aerates to buttered leather ‘n brooding vinyl but also tangerine, candied cranberry & ylang -> sums into a light Merlot
Mouthfeel 12.7 / 15
| Texture: | automagick |
| Melt: | measured |
Flavor 43.9 / 50
rolls in on a Caribbean front: fruit & spices (june & riberries x ambar / fennel) -> gets green (clary sage / sweet grass / tobacco) as a hedgehog worming its way thru a cocoa patch -> mangosteen, tamarind & frangipani -> dark mushroom (woods ear + black truffle) -> umami coats the Pal (palate) complexed in labdanum & vanillin -> next expresses grapes & grapefruit as Madagascar takes over the progression in a whirlwind, almost effacing the cocoa baseboards but those Caribbean tannins hold firm to withstand it, recalling mastic gum & mahlab -> schisandra -> sours away to a gin tonic
Quality 16.2 / 20
Very busy / very vibrant. Just about covers it all: highs (bright ringing esters), lows (Earthen upheavals in the undertow), & a sensational mid-section that harkens back to Mast’s own Mad Truff... this the bar that that should’ve been.
Though nearly a complete blend, it's far & away from the most compatible. The Madagascar component particularly sticks out so by the end it almost leaves the rest of this rich, super geo-natural phenomena behind. But, again, the centripetal forces hold enough to prevent this bar from flying off all over the place.
Mast Bros: expect the unexpected... in this antidote for boredom.
ING: cocoa mass, sugar
Reviewed April 2011
Though nearly a complete blend, it's far & away from the most compatible. The Madagascar component particularly sticks out so by the end it almost leaves the rest of this rich, super geo-natural phenomena behind. But, again, the centripetal forces hold enough to prevent this bar from flying off all over the place.
Mast Bros: expect the unexpected... in this antidote for boredom.
ING: cocoa mass, sugar
Reviewed April 2011