Chocolate Rum Comparison and Pairing

Kō Hana Kokoleka vs Don Rafael by Cacao Prieto 

 I love a good comparison tasting. Usually I’m comparing chocolate but this time I have two beautiful rums  in front of my palate.

The Kō Hana is all Hawaiian made with honey and cocoa  Manoa Chocolate makes a chocolate bar made with this rum.  Iind they are seriously fantastic together and try to keep some of both on hand  

Tasting the Kō Hana reminds me of a honey based cocktail scented with cacao notes.  Easy to sip. Beautiful sweet floral notes that remind me of cacao baba. Paired with the chocolate bar makes it a more chocolate forward experience.

The Don Rafael is made with Dominican cacao and sugar cane. At 40% alcohol it’s definitely packs a bigger punch than the Kō Hana at 30%  but the difference doesn’t stop there.  

The first sniff brings fresh plum scents   Tasting I found the sweet and sour of a plum and sugar cane.  The cacao notes are more in the background for most of the experience until the finish where notes of roasted cacao last a very long time  

Long ago I had a Dominican bar by Cacao Prieto that paired with their rum  That bar is long gone so I tried pairing with a few bars I had on hand  I think the best pairing was a Valrhona Manjari Madagascar bar.  The fruity notes of the bar played very well with the plum notes of the rum. 

This was a fun evening by the fire with rum and chocolate  Let’s do it again sometime very soon!