A Tasting of Lake Hayes Chocolate

Looking for some new chocolate makers to try in New Zealand, we spotted Lake Hayes Chocolate amongst the medal winners in the NZ chocolate awards.  Lake Hayes is based in Queenstown.  Their 'Truth' bar was a bronze medal winner.  We bought the Truth bar and 2 other inclusion bars.

TRUTH - 66% Unadulterated dark, organic, single origin chocolate. 

We couldn't find where the single origin cocoa came from, but they do state it is ethically sourced.
There is a sweet vanilla taste to this chocolate.  There is also notes of raisin and red berries, a bit like a chocolate fruit pudding.  The texture is what we really liked with this.  It is a really firm break, but has this really lovely melt in mouth.  This is nice.

BUZZ - the bee's offering
The same Truth 66% dark chocolate with manuka honey brittle.

There is not a lot of brittle, but what you get tastes nice with its honey flavours.  The honey goes nice with this berry like chocolate.  This was Johanan's favourite.

GEMSTONE - ruby and emerald
The Truth 66% dark chocolate with cranberries and pistachio.

Again there is not a lot of the cranberries and pistachios, but the cranberries really go nicely with the dark chocolate.  The cranberries enhance the berry notes in the chocolate even more.  This was Joni's favourite.

FINAL THOUGHTS
These bars were nice. The inclusion ingredients were just a scattering, but the flavours work really well with the dark chocolate.  The texture and melt is what we will remember most about this chocolate.