Box Chocolate Review

Woodhouse

Info Details
Country USA   (St. Helena, CA)
Style Classic      
lo
med
hi
CQ
Sweetness
Intensity
Complexity
Impact
What can a high education degree do for you? Grads John & Tracy Anderson live in Napa, drink wine, & make these. How much harder can it get?
Presentation   4.4 / 5
wedding-style powder blue pillbox - ribbon included - belies the suspended gravitas within; good-looking set of assortments of traditional, classical design
Aromas   4 / 5
dairy dominant
Textures/Melt   8.3 / 10
Shells: thick
Centers: whipped
Flavor   44.8 / 50
restrained Belgium-type approach, minus the over-cream ‘n sugarcane beating, making for better-than-Belgium
Quality   26.7 / 30
Lots of culinary skill.
Selections
Couverture: Lindt; Callebaut; Guittard
Wild Cherry – Jonestown had Cool-Aid; Death-by-Chocolate “lay down the boogie & play that funky music til you die”
Honey – Dark robe, Milk mousse center touched by golden honey; mouthful of cloud expansion; excellent
Heart of Darkness – Dark on black -> ganache sprinkled w/ pixie nibs for a fortified café-like power lift
Gianduja – a hard mousse-monolith of classic Mayan hazelnut (if such a combination ever existed); standard result
Pecan Caramel – unique flavor-bend; veers toward caramelized popcorn crunch that pops back on a praline nut cream; outstanding
Mocha Cream – White Chocolate cover w/ Milk Chocolate bottom & mocha-lite cream middle; just rips it
Brown Butter Ganache – really a soft caramel butter spread
Quatre Epices – traditional French 4-spice w/ upfront cinnamon, then tantalizer back package verging on anise; elegantly effective
Praline Noisette – faithful interpretation w/ slightly extra bits
Cinnamon Toast – cinnamon comes strong, roasted (almost burnt) before floating off into a 4-spice flit, then back again to cinnamon carbon; animated
Thai Ginger – ginger flirts seemingly w/ cinnamon (invisible or otherwise) w/o realizing the much-stated lemongrass or coconut FXs
Espresso – butter whipped shot-in-the-dark Milk Choc ganache covered in Dark; superb
Sur del Lago – tastes true & straight from Western Venézuela
Almond Toffee Bar – sheer zazz, crunch & pop
a) Banana Foster; b) Honey: basic Belgian-style whip-its
Peanut Croquant – possibly just some French way to say ‘Reese’

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