{"id":1622,"date":"2011-02-11T12:06:51","date_gmt":"2011-02-11T20:06:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tequilawhisperer.com\/?p=1622"},"modified":"2011-02-11T12:06:51","modified_gmt":"2011-02-11T20:06:51","slug":"tequila-chocolate-valentines-day-tastings-episode-68","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tequilawhisperer.com\/?p=1622","title":{"rendered":"Tequila + Chocolate Valentine’s Day Tastings! (episode 68)"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Does LOVE<\/strong> have a name?\u00a0 Does LOVE<\/strong> have a flavor?\u00a0 Yes, and Yes.\u00a0 \u201cMrs. Lippy\u201d<\/strong> & \u201cChocolate\u201d (though not necessarily in that order, hahaha!)\u00a0 Welcome to the great, annual Valentines\u2019 Day Show featuring Tequila + Chocolate parings!
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On this Special Edition Tequila Whisperer Show<\/span>, Th\u2019 Lip<\/strong> takes you through 8 different tequilas and finds excellent gourmet chocolate pairings for each one.\u00a0 You\u2019ll learn the secrets to choosing which tequilas pair best with which types of chocolate and how cacao (Ka- KOWWW!) content influences and determines a lot about how it \u201cplays\u201d with a particular gourmet tequila. \u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s all here, Fans \u2013 and Mrs. Lippy <\/strong>too!\u00a0 So grab a snifter, some great chocolate, and a pencil.\u00a0 You\u2019ll be wanting to refer to these tastings again and again.\u00a0 And a Happy Valentine\u2019s Day<\/span> to you!<\/p>\n

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CHOCOLATE TASTING NOTES:<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Theo Chocolate<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Fig Fennel & Almond bar: <\/strong>The fennel <\/strong>and fig in this 70% cacao chocolate really distinguishes it from many others in this cacao category. The fennel and fig really brought out the more subtle herbaceous flavor notes in the Fortaleza blanco.\u00a0 This chocolate plays very well with a spicy tequila as opposed to something extra sweet or overly woody.\u00a0 The versatility of this combination bar was what surprised the most.<\/p>\n

91% Costa Rican :<\/strong> This chocolate had a deep, thick, and compact flavor profile.\u00a0 We paired it with the extra spicy and hot, Chinaco anejo and the combination was sublime.\u00a0 The slight bitterness of the chocolate brought out the shy sweetness in the Chinaco, and the spicy alcohol attack of this anejo was a welcome addition to the constricted flavor profile of the chocolate.<\/p>\n

Kallari Chocolate<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

75% Cacao: <\/strong>Kallari is an amazingly SINGULAR brand.\u00a0 All of its organic chocolates share a common \u201csoft and dense\u201d flavor profile.\u00a0 You really need to taste this brand to experience its singular mouth and flavor feel. \u00a0Kallari in general has NO \u201cbright\u201d and \u201csparkly\u201d chocolate attack which you have come to associate with commercial chocolate (though you likely never realized it).\u00a0 A chew on this \u201cdull\u201d chocolate brings and entirely new feel sensation, and we REALLY enjoyed it with tequila!<\/p>\n

Green & Black\u2019s Chocolate<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

85% Cacao Dark : <\/strong>Green & Black\u2019s chocolate features so much cocoa butter that the bar actually starts to melt in your hand as you break off tiles to taste!\u00a0 For such a high cacao content, we were pleased to find a deep and thick sweetness to its flavor profile.\u00a0 The extra creamy mouth feel played very well with the extra spicy \u201cGran Centenario\u201d treasure bottle anejo that we paired it with. \u00a0\u00a0This is probably our favorite 85% chocolate on the market.\u00a0 It tastes more like a 60% semi-sweet bar but with a deeper \u201cbottom end\u201d.\u00a0 Enjoy this one all day\/year\/month long!<\/p>\n

Lake Champlain Chocolate<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

70% Cacao: <\/strong>This chocolate plays a really fun trick on the palate.\u00a0 It starts out mid-palate with a deep and \u201cruddy\u201d chocolate grist feel.\u00a0 Then as it hits the back of the tongue and throat it features a sweet finish!\u00a0 It\u2019s an amazing trick that very few gourmet chocolates are able to pull off.\u00a0 We paired this chocolate with Crotalo blanco which features its own \u201ccomplexly abrasive\u201d flavor profile.\u00a0 The two were a great match as the Crotalo related to the chocolate\u2019s similar palate tricks by finishing sweetly.<\/p>\n

Taza Chocolate<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Organic Roasted Cacao Nibs: <\/strong>We had to get to \u201cthe source\u201d at some point in this tasting \u2013 and that meant we were going to be tasting solitary roasted cacao nibs (seeds).\u00a0 These nibs had a delightful combination of sweet nuts and roasted tang.\u00a0 They ended up being the perfect accompaniment to our Casa Noble 7-year single barrel anejo which is perhaps the most complex vanilla-sweet anejo we\u2019ve ever tasted.\u00a0 The marriage of fudgy, French Oak aged tequila with the slightly bitter roast of the nibs was a complex orgy of tasting fun!\u00a0 We MEAN it.\u00a0 Give it a try and prepare to spend the rest of your day\/night combining them non-stop!<\/p>\n


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TEQUILAS (Mezcal) TASTED:<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

FORTALEZA blanco<\/a><\/p>\n

CROTALO blanco<\/a><\/p>\n

ILEGAL Mezcal joven<\/a><\/p>\n

JARRO VIEJO reposado<\/a><\/p>\n

GRAN CENTENARIO anejo<\/a><\/p>\n

CHINACO anejo<\/a><\/p>\n

CASA NOBLE 7-year Single Barrel anejo<\/a><\/p>\n

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Does LOVE have a name?\u00a0 Does LOVE have a flavor?\u00a0 Yes, and Yes.\u00a0 \u201cMrs. Lippy\u201d & \u201cChocolate\u201d (though not necessarily in that order, hahaha!)\u00a0 Welcome to the great, annual Valentines\u2019 Day Show featuring Tequila + Chocolate parings!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[367,52,368,341,102,108,372,356,366,370,373,237,171,371,374,193,369,218],"class_list":["post-1622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-casa-noble-7-year","tag-chinaco","tag-chocolate","tag-crotalo","tag-fortaleza","tag-gran-centenario","tag-green-blacks","tag-ilegal","tag-jarro-viejo","tag-kallari","tag-lake-champlain","tag-mezcal","tag-review","tag-santander","tag-taza","tag-tequila","tag-theo","tag-whisperer"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tequilawhisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tequilawhisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tequilawhisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tequilawhisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tequilawhisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1622"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/tequilawhisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1622\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1635,"href":"https:\/\/tequilawhisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1622\/revisions\/1635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tequilawhisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tequilawhisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tequilawhisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}