-
Liqueur Infused with Chocolate
Not too long ago I went up to Tuthilltown distillery, It’s a beautiful farm and I highly recommend the trip to anyone that finds themselves in the area. Anyway, I had the Chocolate Liqueur which is amazing. The guy giving the tasting said they poured liquid dark chocolate into the still with their vodka and distilled it. It was definitely sweet so I’m sure they add some kind of sweetener.
I have never made a chocolate liqueur but that one made me want to try. Does anyone have any good methods to try out? My still that I would use is only about 100 liters.
I appreciate any input. Thanks.
-
6 Replies
-
Somewhat related. If you’ve never read up on the fermentation of cacao beans as a part of the manufacture of chocolate, you owe it to yourself. The microbiology of it is incredibly interesting, and very much related to what we’re doing.
I’ve been dying to get my hands on raw beans and ferment them in conjunction with a grain mash.
-
Not sure if I’d pour dark chocolate, with all its sugar and other products, into the still. Instead, I’d put a blend of dark, medium and light grade cocoa nibs into the boiler and do a very careful run through a few plates. Cocoa is very high in fatty acids; some of the short and medium chain will make the fresh spirit smell not so good, and it’d be wise to age the resulting distillate for a while and also do a careful tails cut to avoid louching.Since Vanilla, to me, is an important part of chocolate, I would infuse the cocoa spirit with vanilla bean for a while. You’ll get a little bit of straw color, though.
There are a few examples to work from that already exist – Distillerie Mozart does age their chocolate distillate, though I don’t know precisely how long they age it for. They don’t sweeten theirs. You may want to pick up a bottle, do some nosing.
-
Cool stuff.
The fermentation of chocolate is pretty interesting. ……I never knew anything about the fact that it was fermented……
Distillerie Mozart…..I would love to get a bottle of that and do my due diligence but I’m not in the position to acquire. I travel to New York a few times a year but I live in Chile. NOTHING COMES HERE….. only the big brands.
BUT, very good insight. I think I will have fun with playing around with this.
-
You got me on a chocolate kick.
Have you seen this product, designed for brewers?
-
I haven’t seen that. Are you going to try it?
It looks like you don’t ferment with it, you add it after.
So maybe the guy at Tuthilltown distillery was right. They make it like a gin almost. Ethanol, water, and a barrel of liquid cacao right into the still….. and then they must add a sweetener after the fact…..
-
wouldn’t it be more cost effective to put the nibs in the vapor path somewhere?
Log in to reply.
English 
Spanish 
German 
French 
Russian