Ritual Chocolate The Après Chocolate
by David Nilsen
All photos by David Nilsen.
Ritual Chocolate’s The Après Chocolate is one of the most consistently great alcohol-infused bars in the craft chocolate world. It’s luxurious but approachable, fascinating yet easy to understand. And it’s gotten quite popular for the Utah maker.
“The Après was our best-selling bar last year,” says co-owner Anna Seear. She says the bar has a celebratory quality, but what you’re celebrating is up to you. “I've realized it's a year-round hit as it's great for spring with Valentine's Day and Mother's Day, but also a fun celebration bar during the holiday season and New Years. We really wanted this bar to be used for celebrations with the Après-spirit in mind. Relaxing after a long day on the mountain skiing, but really a chance to celebrate the everyday moments.”
The French word après means “after,” and here refers to the convivial spirit and accompanying refreshments enjoyed after another activity, such as skiing.
The bar is made by soaking cacao nibs—a blend of Uganda (Semuliki Forest) for a chocolatey base, Belize (Maya Mountain), and Madagascar (Bejofo Estate), the latter to for the brightness they lend—in white wine for three months. The company is currently using a blend of Sauvignon Blanc and sparking Moscato to soak the nibs for the 70% bar. After that soak, the nibs are dried out at a low temperature and the chocolate-making process continues on as normal. Finally, freeze-dried raspberries are generously dusted onto the back of the bar.
“I love how the brightness of the raspberries complements the bright notes of the chocolate with the subtle warmth of the wine coming through at the end,” says Anna.
She says she enjoys the bar paired with champagne or a pét-nat wine, and I can imagine that would work quite well. I use this bar frequently as one of my homerun pairings in professional events with Oude Gueuze or other mixed-fermentation beers. Such a pairing is included in my book Pairing Beer & Chocolate. The rusticity of these beers gets smoothed away, leaving a gentle earthiness supporting the raspberries, which brought to life by the beer’s acidity.
It’s a beautiful pairing—both surprising but indulgently comforting—and one I include as often as I can.
Of course, a bar this good can be enjoyed all by itself. I think I’ll do that right now.