Lisa Lou's Chocolate Bar

I've never been that fond of sweets, but for some reason, I tend to crave them during the holidays.  Could it be the festive nature or just because everyone else is treating themselves?  I'm not completely sure.  I can go through an entire year without eating chocolate, but when Christmas arrives, I can dust off a whole box.  Well, it isn't exactly Christmas (even though the stores are hawking products already), yet with a tasting at Lisa Lou's Chocolate Bar organized by Sharon, I guess I was getting my fill of sweets early.  It was on Thanksgiving Day, so I guess it was technically a holiday.

We started off strong with my favourite of the tasting - Lily (lemon & coconut). Can you believe the most enjoyable chocolate, in my opinion, is actually vegan?  Mind blown yes.  Consisting of coconut oil and milk as well as roasted coconut, this was very aromatic with caramelized sweetness.  I loved the crispy crunch of the brown rice as well.  Despite the prominent "Raspberry" label, I was pleasantly surprised that the caramel filling was not overly sweet nor tart.  For me, it worked as it let the bitterness of the dark chocolate come through.  I can see how some mind find it a bit too mild-tasting though.

One of the sweeter chocolates was the Marc consisting of almonds, bourbon and malt.  It started off with a caramel sweetness followed by a bourbon finish.  It was aromatic with a nutty crunch from the almond.  Although this was the sweetest of the bunch, it worked in this application.  Made up of sour cherry, pistachio and crispy brown rice, Sue was another favourite of mine.  Naturally, the sweet tartness of the cherry helped keep things light and it was a perfect compliment to the dark chocolate.  Again, the crispy crunch of the rice helped keep textures interesting.

For once, I brought my daughter out for one of these tastings since Nora said she was bringing hers (she didn't... ahem...).  Anyways, my daughter really loved the Passionfruit as it was filled with an impactful amount of filling which was tart, yet not incredibly sweet.  Super flavourful and hard to eat just one.  On that note, we also sampled some of their Caramels including Raspberry and Meyer Lemon.  These were soft, chewy and buttery.  I would've liked them to be a touch firmer, but the flavours were intoxicatingly powerful.  I had the meyer lemon and it was balanced in terms of sweetness and tang.

The last item I sampled was one the Vanilla Brownie Ice Cream Sandwich.  By the time I took a bite, the ice cream had melted somewhat due to the lack of stabilizers.  This meant it was creamy and naturally textured.  I found it semi-sweet while the brownie was firm enough to keep thing together while being thin so that it wasn't cumbersome to eat.  Overall, I quite enjoyed the products at Lisa Lou's.  I found that the chocolates were the most consistent product.

*All chocolates and treats were complimentary*

The Good:
- Purposeful flavours that weren't overwhelming nor too sweet
- Dark chocolate had a nice firm texture giving way to silkiness
- Lots of products

The Bad:
- I enjoyed the caramels, but they could've been firmer since most of them stuck to the wrapper