Vosges Red Fire Bar

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

Composition: Mexican Ancho y Chipotle Chillies, Ceylon Cinnamon, 55% Dark Chocolate.
Region of Production: USA.
Price: $7.50 from Vosges’s store.

Vosges’ Red Fire Bar, while not succeeding on a technical level, still manages to provide a pleasant, unique experience.

In terms of presentation, it’s not too impressive, as is the case with the other Vosges bars. This time around, though, I was even less satisfied, as my bar was utterly broken. I had been traveling with it in my carryon luggage, to be fair, yet I had put it in a rather safe, flat location. In fact, other chocolates I carried with me were completely unscathed. The Red Fire Bar (and its box), however, were so fragile that the chocolate was literally in shambles.

As for texture and melt, I do have to say the bar is better than I thought it would be, especially after my bad experience with the Vosges Black Pearl Bar, which was short, melted poorly, and had an artificial creaminess to it. Here, you still get the waxy taste of the lecithin, but the chocolate goes down more smoothly.

That’s not to say the texture couldn’t use work. The chocolate is still far too hard to simply snap it off. The result is uneven squares (e.g. jagged edges), along with the need to munch on the bar.

The flavor of the bar fares better. While other bars have been underflavored, here everything comes together strongly and nicely. First, the chocolate itself is well-balanced. At 55% dark chocolate, it’s not very bitter at all, and in fact it seems to have extra sweetness added in, probably due to the use of the Ceylon cinnamon. Thus, the cocoa itself is balanced, with a slight creaminess that doesn’t overshadow either the bitter or sweet flavors of the chocolate.

More important is the spice, which comes through extremely well, especially in the aftertaste. Because the aftertaste is so spicy, the bar itself is very long, not because of the cocoa, but rather because your mouth is left burning. The bar starts off very slowly, as you taste only a slight cinnamon spice to it. Eventually, though, the spice expands to include both that cinnamon sweetness and the much hotter Mexican ancho chiles. Surprisingly, the cinnamon acts as a great bridge between the more traditional sweetness of a chocolate bar and the more innovative, spicy flavors. The spiciness only amplifies in the finish, which feels almost as if cayenne pepper is being stuffed down your throat (in a good way). The Red Fire Bar lives up to its name, as your mouth will literally be burning as you eat. Still, the spice is so good that you just don’t mind. In fact, you want to keep eating precisely because that spice is so enjoyable, although you may need some water to get the spice out of your mouth completely.

The Vosges Red Fire Bar, then, is a great combo. The cinnamon adds the zesty-sweet, the chilies the spicy, and the dark chocolate a balanced, light cocoa sweetness. The chocolate itself isn’t of the greatest quality, but it is much better than what I’ve found in some Vosges bars, and the melt doesn’t feel too artificial. The boldness of the flavors more than covers up any technical deficiencies.

Presentation: 0.0/5.0, but a 3.0 if the bar weren’t in shambles.
Taste: 4.1/5.0. Add a few tenths if you love spice.
Flavor: 4.5/5.0
Length: 3.5/5.0. Very long, but because of the spice, rather than the chocolate. Very unique aftertaste, too.
Melt: 2.0/5.0
Value: 3.0/5.0. Expensive, but you won’t find a combination like this anywhere else.
Overall Score: 3.6/5.0, but still recommended for those who love spice.