Lake Champlain Dark Chocolate Bar

Posted by Edmund in Chocolate, Featured Articles, Gourmet Chocolate Bars, USA | 0 comments

Price: $3.79-$3.99 in Boston.
Composition: 54% Dark Chocolate.
Region: America.
Manufacturer Notes: “This dark African blend is just right: creamy, sweet, fruity, and floral.”

For a mid-range gourmet candy bar, this has to be one of the best-looking bars on the market. It comes in 8 even, very solid squares that break apart almost effortlessly. The wrapper is a bit dull, made from cheap-looking paper with almost no decoration on it. The chocolate itself is beautiful, though. It does have some discoloration on the inside, which you can see after you break off a chunk and check the middle. I do, however, really enjoy the snap, which gives a large crackle and leaves no cracks or imperfections. Impressive for such a cheap bar.

The taste, however, is underwhelming. Unfortunately, the manufacturer’s notes are completely overstated. I didn’t really get anything other than creamy and sweet. Moreover, the bar doesn’t taste much like a dark chocolate, in that it’s so sweet that it comes off as more of a candy bar than a fine chocolate. The lecithin is also extremely pronounced, resulting in a very waxy taste, which is a shame, since the cocoa does actually have some nice flavors to it once you get past that waxiness.

First, there’s a milky quality underlying the whole bar that you really don’t expect from a dark chocolate, making the bar incredibly easy to eat. Next, as you savor the chocolate in the mouth, you do get just a slight bit of fruity berries (though completely overshadowed by the stronger cocoa taste). The bar ends with a long, sweet finish with just a bit of coffee in it, along with some earthiness. Still, these are all very subtle and are easily overpowered by the overwhelming creaminess of the bar.

Moreover, the melt feels weak. The chocolate itself comes very thick—in fact, probably one of the thickest I’ve seen—so the melt starts very slowly, even with all the lecithin used. When the bar does melt, it has a slightly waxy feeling and fails to leave much of an impression on the palate.

Scores

Presentation: 4.4/5.0 (for a candy bar). 4.0/5.0 otherwise.
Taste: 2.0/5.0 for a candy bar. 1.0/5.0 otherwise. Far, Far too sweet.
Melt: 2.0/5.0
Value: 1.5/5.0
Length: 1.0/5.0
Verdict: 1.3/5.0. 2.0 for a candy bar.