Most people know Nashville as the home of country music but recently it has acquired quite a name for its food. It’s not just the restaurants that are drawing attention. In 2009, Olive & Sinclair brought to the world their small-batch, slow roasted and stone-ground artisan chocolate made right here in East Nashville. Owner/ founder/ maker, Scott Witherow and his small team know a lot about chocolate. From finding the perfect bean and roasting temperature, to the 1900s stone grinder (melanger) from Europe they bought and reassembled, to separating the melted chocolate into the correct particle size – they strive to make the perfect chocolate bar all while trying to be as organic & fair trade as possible. It’s amazing how much work is put into a bar of their chocolate. They even hand wrap and package every bar. Amazing!
Last night, Brady & I had a chance to tour the O&S factory as part of a tweet-up with the Tennessean. It was a lot of fun walking around all of the complex machines, meeting the people who make the chocolate, and meeting the diverse group of people that attended. (Some of those who were there included a dove trainer, a cancer researcher at Vanderbilt and even the owner of a hand-made guitar pick company.) But hands down, the best part was sampling the O&S chocolate. The highlight was their yet to be released bourbon brittle. The night ended with Brady winning a cookbook with small batch desserts for two. We both left radiating the smell of chocolate.
Watch this video to take the tour for yourself (kinda).
Olive and Sinclair Artisan Chocolate from josh anderson on Vimeo.