Taste Chocolate in Bristol
When: 15th & 16th April 2017
Where: Harbour Hotel, Bristol
£: Admission costs £4, children under 13 go free. Tickets for The Multisensory Chocolate Experience cost £18 (includes entry to festival).
What is it?
This Easter weekend, some of the country’s best chocolate producers will be heading to Bristol for a celebration of chocolate.
Taking over the Sansovino Hall in Bristol’s new Harbour Hotel, Taste Chocolate is a two-day family friendly event. The festival will feature over 30 exhibitors, chocolate demonstrations, a Prosecco bar, and a history of chocolate exhibition. New for this year, there will be a chocolate multi-sensory experience, inviting you to experience chocolate like never before.
Origin: The Multisensory Chocolate Experience has been created by Bristol-based storytellers and gastronomy experimenters, Understory. The experience promises to take visitors on a journey through their past, present and future; all using the medium of chocolate as a stimulator to heighten the senses and provide a coherent awareness of ourselves and the environment. Part theatre, part chocolate tasting and psychology; the multisensory experience uses art, tarot, mindfulness and music to enhance the way audience members eat chocolate. The experience will take place in the underground vaults of the Bristol Harbour Hotel’s new spa.
Families tasting chocolate at last year’s event
Exhibitors at the festival will be showcasing beautifully crafted chocolates, cakes, patisserie, churros, wine, beer, liqueurs, brownies, hot chocolate, and of course Easter eggs.
Exhibitors will include Bristol-based chocolatiers including Zara’s Chocolates, the Little Cocoa Company, McWhirr’s Chocolate and Adam’s Raw Chocolate. From further afield there will be Fifth Dimension, The Chocolatier, J.Cocoa, and Winchester Fine Chocolates, as well as vegan chocolate from Cocoa Caravan and Solkiki. Expect unusual flavour combinations from the likes of Chocolate Arthouse and Mannabonbons, and festival regulars La Fleur de Chocolat and Divine Chocolate will also be showcasing an assortment of chocolates, Easter eggs and chocolate teacakes.
Understory, the creators of the multisensory chocolate experience, will also launch their first chocolate bar at the festival. Handcrafted and made in Bristol, the bar is made from some of the world’s rarest cacao, and there will be a short film about the production of the cocoa beans.
Devil’s Food Cake by Ahh Toots
Visitors can also taste the more weird and wonderful applications of chocolate, such as Rubis Wine’s chocolate wine, chocolate salami, quirky chocolate gifts from The Chocolate Workshop, raw chocolate ingredients from Ethical Treats and Hungarian chimney cakes from Smok’n Chimney.
Bristol’s own Incredible Brewing Company will once again create a chocolate ale especially for the festival. Other liquid delights will include delicious liqueurs from The Wiltshire Liqueur Company, local gin from Bramley and Gage, handmade lemonade from Hullabaloos and chocolate chai syrup from Henny and Joe’s.
There will also be treats from award-winning patisserie, Dimkin’s, Bristol’s show stopping cakery Ahh Toots, Fair and Square Chocolate Brownies, authentic French creperie La Bonne Crepe, vegan friendly Churros Olé, and raw, guilt-free desserts from Elspeth’s Kitchen.
More info: tastechocolate.co.uk