Olive & Sinclair Chocolate Co.

2012-01-19T06:22:00.000-08:00

Feb 2012 Bon Appetit

Nashville's

BEST

Eatin with

the Black Key's

Dan Auerbach!!

Cityhouse, Olive & Sinclair, Prince's

Hot Chicken and more!

Heck yeah's & high Fives!

SMOKED NIB BRITTLE

2011-11-02T07:34:00.000-07:00

NOW AVAILABLE ONLINE!!!

SMOKED

NIB

BRITTLE

Our Collaboration with Allan Benton is Now Available online!!

Smoked in the smokehouse of Allan Benton, our smoed cacao nibs are engulfed in buttery caramel and finished witrh our 67% Chocolate for a Smokey, Sweet, salty Goodness like no other. We're SUPER Excited about this one!!

NOT for the tame of tastebuds, But we are lovin it!!

LIMITED AVAILABILITY

Currently ONLY AVAILABLE ONLINE

Rye & Rivet

2011-07-15T07:48:00.000-07:00

Check out the latest interview with RYE & RIVET and Scott from O&S!!

Vintage Melangeur for O&S restoration!

2011-05-16T11:29:00.000-07:00

Melangeur Arrival for Restoration!

2011-05-04T07:20:00.000-07:00

It's always a beautiful day if it includes chocolate! Hope everyone is having a fantastic Wednesday!

Coming Soon!

2011-04-29T07:38:00.000-07:00

A new project with ALAN BENTON from Benton’s Country Hams and Bacon….can you contain yourself? Yes, BACON!

2011-04-20T11:59:00.000-07:00

Olive & Sinclair

is in

DETAILS MAGAZINE

This month!!

...and more to come!!

...

Not to brag, but....

2011-03-04T07:24:00.000-08:00

Gwyneth's opinions are highly regarded

Blog Delay due to congestion of NEW STUFF!

2011-03-03T07:35:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the lapse in Bloggin!
Been working hard through
the holidays and tweaking

NEW PRODUCTS!!!

Coming soon...

A Collaboration with our friend, ALAN BENTON...

SMOKED NIB BRITTLE!

Fun Times @ Yazoo Brewing last night testing and tasting Yazoo Brews, Kenny's Farmhouse Cheeses and some up new products from Olive & Sinclair! Thanks for everyone's feedback on our up coming...

Smoked Nib Brittle

..which we are collaborating with our friend Alan Benton from Benton's Smoked Country Ham and Bacon! Yes that's right and we are stinking honored..we can't say it enough!

There were 2 recipes we tied the other night and folks liked one hands down over the other. Stay tuned for the next round of taste-testing!!! Its a smoky good time..hehe

We're Super excited about this and if you missed out on trying it last night just, well...we're sorry but your gonna LOVE IT!!!

Stay Tuned!!

Smokey..Salty & Sweet with a hint of chocolatey goodness

2010-09-08T06:42:00.000-07:00

We're so excited to be working with the
GOOD FOLKS at

Terrapin Brewing Co.
in
Athens, Georgia

They had the genius idea of doing a
Single Origin
Chocolate Milk Stout
Called...
"MOO-HOO"

Gonna be AWESOME...Stay Tuned!

2010-08-10T09:07:00.000-07:00

Olive & Sinclair
Chocolate Co.
in
FOOD & WINE
this month!!!!

"Small-Batch Superstars"

....dang right.

THANKS AGAIN FOR YOUR SUPPORT!!!

2010-06-15T14:58:00.000-07:00

OLIVE & SINCLAIR CHOCOLATE CO.
named 2010 sofi ™
Silver Finalist
for
Outstanding Confection
By the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade!!

Double-Dang we are proud..

WORLD'S #1 PACKAGE DESIGN WEBSITE

2010-06-04T09:39:00.000-07:00

"Beautiful design for a southern artisan chocolate brand based out of Nashville Tennessee" the DIELINE.com

"the Salt & Pepper Chocolate bar is one of the best chocolate bars I have ever had... " comments one..

We Agree... and Thanks!!!

LOOK FOR SOUTHERN ARTISAN CHOCOLATE...
... COMING SOON TO A SPECIALTY GROCER NEAR YOU!!

..or visit our new website

Follow us on FACEBOOK

NEW POP Letter Press BOX

2010-04-21T11:25:00.000-07:00

New POP Letterpress Boxes by the Isle of Printing!

Hand Printed by our friend Bryce McCloud @ the Isle of Printing! Colors may vary and have different limited Edition Prints on the bottom...each selected and printed by McCloud himself so who knows what they will be and how many!?... We think they are super Cool..

NEW FACEBOOK PAGE!!

2010-03-30T12:20:00.000-07:00

Somehow our facebook page was deleted!....

So!...WE BUILT A NEW ONE!!!!

PLEASE Renew your love for OLIVE & SINCLAIR!!

AND CHECK OUT ALL the GREAT THINGS Happening!

TV SHOWS..

BEER TASTINGS...

Magazines Articles..

GOOP.COM...

NEW products..

....new products, new alliances and much much more!

Feel free to forward to other O&S lovers!

photo courtesy of Facebook

NEW FOR THE WEDDING SEASON

2010-03-26T07:34:00.000-07:00

OLIVE & SINCLAIR

WEDDING FAVORS

NOW

AVAILABLE!!

contact us info@oliveandsinclair.com

2010-03-21T06:43:00.000-07:00

FULL SERVICE Website is currently in the works!!!

RETAL • WHOLSALE • NEWS • VIDEO • NEW PRODUCTS

SOUTHERN ARTISAN CHOCOLATE ™

stay tuned for updates....

O&S in Fringe Magazine!!!

2010-03-19T10:32:00.000-07:00

"A love Affair with Olive & Sinclair"

"size doesn't matter...at least with Chocolate"

hehe...We don't know what they were referring to but hope it's either the size of our shop or t hat we've been told that everyone at O&S needing to put a little more meat on their bones..

You decide...Here's a link!

PS... even Gwyneth Paltrow loves O&S!

Gwyneth loves O&S!!!

2010-03-18T09:38:00.000-07:00

Be sure to Check out Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop.com where she talk about Nashville's ONLY bean-to-bar Chocolate Maker ...Olive & Sinclair!

"Each wrapper’s design, is, like the chocolate inside, exquisite. "

"The cinnamon chili chocolate is the best interpretation we’ve tried of Mexican chocolate"

We're VERY proud & thankful to have such a cool new fan!

...and we hope she is willing to share some with her friend Mario Batali!?...fingers crossed.

OXFORD AMERICAN

2010-03-03T12:24:00.000-08:00

Olive & Sinclair
in
OXFORD AMERICAN
Southern Food Edition 2010
guest Edited by John T. Edge!!

We're very excited and honored to be a part of the 2010 Southern Food Edition of the Oxford American! Great Issue so if you love Southern Food be sure to check it out! Awesome articles (including the one about us..hehe) including Moon pie Beer, Heirloom Tomatoes, The Lee Bros. Beef Jerky and Nashville's Own Southern Artisan Chocolate. Thanks to Alice Randall for her love and support of O&S as well as an Amazing Article!

Be sure to check it out!

We appreciate your southern support!!

Photo provided by the Oxford American 2010.

2010-02-27T07:50:00.000-08:00

COMING SOON

O&S

Single Origin

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

72% cacao

Pure Dominican Republic Chocolate

with notes of meyer lemon, floral sweet cacao,

pineapple and hints of plantain.

A real taste of a great Dominican Republic Bean.

Limited edition

Only Made 1 batch and when its gone...its gone.

...and its really good.

CHOCOLATE FOR HIRE

2010-01-29T13:21:00.000-08:00

Olive & Sinclair
Chocolate Co.
is
NOW HIRING!!!

Are you Interested in Workin @ a Chocolate Factory?

Position: Office Coordinator/Sales Manager:

Requirements:

Must love and have a passion for food, cooking and of course... chocolate.
Personable and loyal
Clean, organized and diligent
Flexable Schedule
Hard Working & Positive Attitude
Experience in sales management and food is a plus
Good Computer Skills with Excel (numbers) Word (pages), Quickbooks, etc...and knowledge for the updating of web items.

Duties will Include but are not limited to:

Manage & update-accounts and information
Updating new upcoming Web-Site on a need basis.
Resposible for shipping and recieving.
Customer/Client Relations
And a few other things including the daily consumption of lots of Choco.

Please send resume's to Scott: jobs@oliveandsinclair.com

Serious Applicants only and ALL are subject to a 90 day trial period.

Many Thanks and look forward to meeting you!

NEW OLIVE & SINCLAIR VALENTINES

2010-01-13T15:25:00.000-08:00

O&S CINN-CHILI Chocolate = ONE SPICY VALENTINE'S DAY..

Only available for a limited time!!!

O&S VINTAGE style Hearts are made from our Mexican Style Cinn-Chili...perfect for the love of your life and makes two cups of hot-chocolate to boot!...so you get to benefit too! (hehe)

Also available is our "Anchorbar" 67% dual origin chocolate in its regular bar form but lookin sharp for the holidays in this Vintage Style Valentine!

Good news but bad news......soon the Cinn chili will hibernate for the Summer,.. but new good things to come! (WHISKEY+VANILLA+ SALT)= COMING SOON!

Tis a year for chocolatey Goodness..

2010-01-06T13:04:00.000-08:00

GET YOUR SPIRIT OF NASHVILLE POSTERS!!!!

IN STORES NOW!

Aint Feb. a good month for chocolate!?

NASHVILLE LIFESTYLES W/ O&S (FEBURARY EDITION )

2010-01-05T08:15:00.000-08:00

w/ Nashville's own... Olive & Sinclair!!!

Just Finished Photo-Shoot with Nashville Lifestyles Magazine!

Look for it on shelves this Feburary!!!

We have a O&S style Valentine we think your gonna LOVE!

2009-12-31T13:58:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year Everyone!!!

Thanks for a wonderful 2009!

Great New Chocolate things from

O&S...COMING in 2010!!!

2009-12-30T09:43:00.001-08:00

RIGHT NOW, WE ARE FILMING WITH TN CROSSROADS!!!!!

Double-Dang right we're proud..

2009-12-26T13:26:00.000-08:00

Just a new little something we're proud of!

...and as family Christmas reminds us, we do love some Banana Pudding!!!

You should Join!

Southern Foodways Alliance

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!

2009-12-23T09:44:00.000-08:00

...and to all a good night!

Thanks again to everyone for making this the best 1st Christmas we could have asked for!

Thanks Nashville! Great new things to come in 2010!

CHOCOLART by Bryce McCloud

2009-12-07T10:07:00.000-08:00

Joining forces yet again with Bryce McCloud at the Isle of Printing to bring you a new series of LIMITED EDITION PRINTS on our always tasty chocolate treats! Its always a pleasure working with Bryce and his work always amazes us...so we are very excited to be a part of his vision and limited edition work!

The regular (2.75 oz) size Chocolart bars are a part of a series where Ole McCloud is talking the phrases from old valentines hearts and doing limited edition prints! STINKIN AWESOME...(I want one of every one he does for a series print-frame)

The larger 1 pound bars are all characters from a world he has made with kinda quirky and fun sayings like "Much Obliged" Stay tuned for the newest edition!

Here is a sneak peek!

* ONLY AVAILABLE FOR LIMITED TIME AND @ THE ISLE OF PRINTING

*COMING SOON TO YOUR LOCAL OLIVE & SINCLAIR CHOCOLATE CO.!

O&S coming to the BIG SCREEN

2009-12-05T10:31:00.000-08:00

We made a movie!!!

Olive and Sinclair Artisan Chocolate from josh anderson on Vimeo.

Well a good friend Josh Anderson did some awesome photo's for us for our upcoming new Web page and while doing so he put together this little movie for us!! He is absolutely unbelievable! He asked me what i would want to show people about what it is that we do and he nailed it! For those of you that have not been able to come by and see what our day-to day world is of Making southern Artisan Chocolate...here is a sneak preview!

Video Courtesy of Josh Anderson

http://www.joshandersonphotography.com/

O&S+SPIRIT OF NASHVILLE •LIMITED EDITION•

2009-11-25T12:05:00.000-08:00

We recently go invited to join the Legendary Spirit of Nashville!!! We're Pumped! Here's a sneak preview of our newest line of posters! We have numbered the ones that we are selling as our first run of these bad boys!!

•LIMITED EDITION•

Check em out!!!

18X24 prints are only $30

11X14 prints only $18

Tell us which one is your favorite (blog, facebook or twitter)

For sales and inquiries email scott@oliveandsinclair.com

•Photo's from Spirit of Nashville • www.spiritofnashville.com •

FREE CHOCOLATE TASTING

2009-11-11T18:07:00.001-08:00

Gonna be giving out loads of free chocolate at the Artrageous 2009! There will also be all kinds of other stuff, and electricity permitting..we're gonna be stone-grindin right before your very eyes! While we may not have a chocolate river, Mr. Wonka, our molino is a work of magic and will be there amuse and amaze you! All kinds of free merchandise, drawings, and best of all...Southern Artisan Chocolate! Make sure you come by and see us!

...while supplies last!

Great cause...Great chocolate...Free Chocolate.

No se llega tarde para la fiesta!

2009-11-10T15:22:00.000-08:00

AKA: "Don't be tardy for the party" Sorry, We're Corny, but we're big fans of NeNe and the rest of the gals over at the real housewives of Atlanta... But on another note, we're makin the FIRST deliveries of the NEW Mexican Style Cinnamon Chili here in Nashville!!! While we have already gotten into a few other surrounding states, ahem Atlanta if you need a chocolate fix NeNe, but definitely wanted to get this one out and about on our home turf! Good Cinnamon notes from an AWESOME organic Cinnamon we get from Puerto Rico, and little kick at the end. We hope you enjoy and look forward to hearing what you think!

ps. The recipe for the awesome Hot Chocolate we have served at recent events is included w/ every purchase!

New stuff in the works and don't forget about holiday gifts and our new lovely tee's!

SHIRTS vs SKINS

2009-11-04T08:43:00.000-08:00

We got Cool T-Shirts printed by the guys over @ Black Item Ink here in Nashville! Awesome Organic Tee's from American Apparel. Sizes Sm-med-Lg-and XL. Its quite the bargain to show off your love for Nashville's own Chocolate Maker...Olive & Sinclair.

Come by the shop and pick one up!

Only $16.50 ( please bring cash as we do not take credit cards)

Here's a few pics of me and Casey showing off our new threads! There are very few grey ones so if you like'em little more basic don't delay!

If you don't have a shirt...you must be a skin!

ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS... (New O&S Holiday Items!)

2009-11-03T16:08:00.000-08:00

We though about the holidays and what is better than a chocolate bar that is just the perfect size...HUGE. In our opinion its a great way to say Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays...and ..i love you, i like you, i think your cool, i don't know you that well but you work here so here is the COOLEST CORPORATE GIFT EVER!!! Among other things, we just tried to think about what we would want to get for Christmas?!

Also, for the person who likes a little bit of everything or likes to dip their McDougals Chicken in a plethora of sauces, we are also offering a 4 bar tasting set Gift Tin. The Southern Artisan Tasting Tin will include a 75% cacoa, 67% cacoa, Sea Salt and now our Chocolate Java...Made with Nashville's own BONGO JAVA!

Check out our list of retailers for you Christmas needs!

If you're interested in Corporate Gifts with Please email me @ info@oliveandsinclair.com

Nashville Scene

2009-10-30T15:15:00.000-07:00

Check out our new article in the Nashville Scene!!! Thanks Carrington! We appreciate the Local Support!

www.nashvillescene.com

WIN FREE O&S CHOCOLATE!!!

2009-10-29T08:18:00.000-07:00

Nashville's own, Lindsay Landis, author of www.loveandoliveoil.com, is giving away free Olive and Sinclair Chocolate Bars! They are GIVING AWAY a 4-bar tasting which includes a bar of 75% dark, Sea Salt, Salt-&-Pepper, and the unreleased "Mexican Style Cinnamon Chili". You may have sampled it at the Produce place Fall-Fest. Also, if you tweet or post her contest on another blog, you can win even more!!! Wonder if that means i can win? The website is awesome and she also took some pretty cool pics of other local products and events, so check out it out! Thanks Lindsay! Very Nice of her to help promote!

PRINT MAGAZINE

2009-10-27T16:10:00.001-07:00

I know we've already mentioned this but check it out! We're pretty proud to have made Print Magazine's 2009 Regional Design Annual for best logo design in the South! We like our logo too, but this is a huge honor for us and we couldn't be thankful enough for the recognition! Thanks again to Bryce McCloud and the Anderson Group for being awesome.

PS...if you'd rather spend your hard earned cash on O&S chocolate bars, come to the shop and check out our copy!

2nd Annual Produce Place Fall Fest

2009-10-22T12:21:00.000-07:00

We wanted to be sure and let you know that this Saturday, Oct. 24th we will be participating in the Produce Place 2nd Annual Fall Fest featuring local artisan makers as well as farmers from the middle Tennessee region.

At this year's Fall Fest Olive & Sinclair will be supplying free samples of our chocolate as well as a spicy cinnamon hot chocolate that features our upcoming Cinnamon Chili Mexican chocolate bar. In addition, Produce Place will kindly be selling Olive & Sinclair chocolate at fifty cents off the regular retail price. A big thanks to Barry, Steve and gang for setting up this incredible event. Swing by, get some hot chocolate and enjoy the crisp autumn day with us! Fall Fest hours are 9-2 and Produce Place is located in west Nashville off West End Blvd. at 4000 Murphy Rd.

Thanks Nashville Scene!

2009-10-20T06:47:00.000-07:00

Big thanks to the Nashville Scene for voting Olive & Sinclair "Best Chocolate" in Nashville!

seduced by the dark side..

2009-10-14T10:01:00.000-07:00

After we finalized our recipe for the classic O&S 67% choco bar we decided we definitely needed to raise the cacao bar and develop a super content bar for those who appreciate the über-darkside of chocolate. Created with a closely related recipe to the 67% our 75% is based on choco rich hand selected Ghana beans then crossed with a scaled back percentage of fruit note happy Dominican beans. Conched with the cocoa butter and dark brown sugar we made sure to remove more astringent notes that many associate with the higher cacao content bars and ended up with a pretty killer bar that's heavy on the cacao but mellow enough to really savor without the unpleasant notes.

*As a little packaging side note, serving as the base chocolate for our Sea Salt and Coffee Bean bars you'll notice that band wrappers for each of our bars that feature 75% choco are much darker than the 67%, Salt & Pepper and Cacao Nib which are all 67% based chocolates.

One Eyed Willie's favorite treat.

2009-10-01T14:50:00.000-07:00

To continue spotlighting the different bars we've chosen to launch Olive & Sinclair with we spin toward "Sea Salt." I remember when we were putting together the packaging for this bar we really wanted it to have a bit of a nautical feel to it. Blues, pale yellows and such were what we felt would accomplish the oceanic vibe with the packaging.

For the bar itself we specifically paired the 75% chocolate with flaked Cypress sea salt so that it would complement the super bold cocoa notes it exhibits. We also wanted to make sure that with a Kosher Salt & Cracked Pepper bar the two were distinctly different. So far its been one of our most successful bars so go out and see for yourself!

Takin' it to the Streets..

2009-09-22T21:38:00.000-07:00

Olive & Sinclair has broken free from its humble confines and has now began distributing chocolate bars throughout metropolitan Nashville. You can now find our bars at: Mitchell Delicatessen at Riverside Village/East Nashville, Imogene + Willie on 12th S., The Green Wagon off Five Points and on Murphy Road, Caldwell Collection on Bandywood in Green Hills, The Produce Place on Murphy Road and also The Turnip Truck on Woodland Street/ Eastside. If you are aware of a shop in your neighborhood that you'd like to see our chocolate in ask them to carry Olive & Sinclair!

Cocoa B. Ware

2009-09-17T15:25:00.000-07:00

Over the coming days we thought it would be a good idea to talk a bit more about each of the bars coming out in a little more detail so you can get to know your Olive & Sinclair chocolate bars just a little bit better. So, meet our 67% + Cacao Nib bar - a 67% cacao content bar created from predominantly Ghana (choco notes) and lesser Dominican (fruit notes) is a like a super double chocolate bar. That's because coating the back of this are fresh roasted cacao nibs straight from our roaster to the back of this bar resulting in an unapologetic chocolate cataclysm the likes your mouth has never seen. Simply put: if you are a choco-fiend - this guy is for you.

Bar-hopping!

2009-09-16T14:53:00.000-07:00

After much hard work tweaking and wrapping up loose ends over the past month we're glad to announce the chosen chocolate bars Olive & Sinclair are going to roll out with! We've got a majority of the flavors hand wrapped and ready (you can find three of them at Mitchell Deli at Riverside Village) and the others are just a matter of days away from being ready for enjoying. They are:

67% (Ghana/Dominican)
75% (Ghana/Dominican)
67% + Kosher Salt & Cracked Pepper
75% + Coffee Bean
67% + Cacao Nib
75% + Sea Salt

We're busy now talking with shops and trying to spread these bars far and wide across Nashville in both traditional and nontraditional venues. If you have a shop of your own and are interested in talking to us about our chocolate feel free to hit us up! We're terribly excited about getting the fruits of our labor to the masses! As we deliver bars to their destination we'll be sure and let you know where that is! Give us a shout at info@oliveandsinclair.com.

Lylas and Olive & Sinclair at Grimeys tonight!

2009-08-12T07:18:00.000-07:00

Hello all! Just a quick note to let you know that we will be at Grimey's tonight with more yummy choco samples for the Lylas instore performance. The instore starts at 6 so be get ready to have your taste buds tantalized and your ears soothed by the sweets sounds of Kyle Hamlett and gang. Hope to see you tonight!

Fast at work for 2009 Tomato Art Fest..

2009-08-07T07:06:00.000-07:00

We've spent the better part of this week getting ready for the 2009 Tomato Art Festival tomorrow and after wrapping and stickering over 5000 Olive & Sinclair miniature bars we're pretty dang proud of the result. Tomorrow (Aug. 8) we will be featuring free samples our Kosher Salt and Cracked Black Pepper bar and a limited run of our 67% Ghana/Dominican Republic/Panama bars. Please come down, say hello and sample some of the goods we've whipped up for Tomato Art Festival! After you've done that don't forget to sign up for the chance to win a case of Olive & Sinclair Chocolate for your very own. It's up to you whether you want to share it or not!

The Tomato Art Fest kicks off at 10 Am and will run through the day until 6 PM. Forecast predicts a goregous day so come on down, get some of the good stuff and say hello!

You say tomato, we say chocolate.

2009-07-23T12:24:00.000-07:00

Hi again all - happy to say that we are in actual chocolate production and in the midst of preparing for the Tomato Art Festival which will be taking place in 5 points on Saturday, August 8th. We're looking forward to sharing the fruits of our labor and getting to answer your questions and getting to know some of you. Please feel free to mosey on up!

To learn more about the Tomato Art Fest you can visit their website here. Pass the word along!

Olive & Sinclair + Emma = BFF

2009-07-12T11:43:00.000-07:00

We've recently joined forces with the wonderful local email marketing firm Emma to assist with our efforts of letting you know just exactly what we're up to. Big thanks to Megan at Emma for being so wonderful. Cheers lady! If you look at the top right side of our blog you can subscribe to the official mailing list - that's where you'll get all our news, event information and special offers we have int he works.

Additionally, we've set up a new Olive & Sinclair flickr page so you can peruse artwork, facility and machinery photos and various art concepts that we've established over the past year. Take a gander around if it strikes ya!

We have wrappers..and sweet, sweet beer..

2009-07-11T09:36:00.000-07:00

After many, MANY long weeks of tweaks, color changes, size changes etc, etc we finally have a wrapper that we're pretty dang proud of! Massive thanks to Bryce McCloud of Isle of Printing and Joel Anderson of Anderson Design Group for collaborating with us to give Olive & Sinclair the look we've sought after for many a month. This is what you will see in all the fine shops and restaurants of Nashville in the months to come! Moving forward, we'll be developing color variations on this wrapper to represent the different flavor combinations yet to come. When in doubt, always refer to the circle in the top left hand corner to determine the cocoa percentage or what additional ingredients are in the bar you'll be purchasing. We have some pretty cool flavors in the works, so stay tuned to see when and where you can find them!
In other exciting news, our good friend Jason Malone of Birmingham's Good People Brewing Co. is in the process of utilizing Olive & Sinclair's slow roasted cocoa nibs to do some experimental chocolate stout batches. We're not sure what the result will be, but we're pretty excited to see how it turns out. Learn more about that here.

And last but not least, our friends (and neighbors) over at Mitchell Deli created a jalepeno and chocolate bread pudding this week, using our very own Olive & Sinclair cocoa nibs! We were fortunate enough to snag a taste before it ran out! Next time you're in Mitchell's, take a peek at their hot bar and just maybe they'll do an encore production.

O&S logo honored by Print magazine..

2009-06-29T10:01:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to quickly report that Print magazine has honored Nashville's own Anderson Design Group and Olive & Sinclair by choosing our logo to be featured in their 2009 Regional Design Annual. According to Print's website, "The Regional Design Annual, is the most comprehensive survey of graphic design in the United States-and one of the biggest issues to hit the graphic design industry each year." Big congrats to Joel and the gang at Anderson. Cheers!

man of la conche..

2009-06-23T11:16:00.000-07:00

As of approx. 10:30 last Friday our final machine finally arrived by way of Arbroath, Scotland from MacIntyre Chocolate Systems. I think I've mentioned this before but it's painfully obvious(especially after laying eyes on it) that this guy really puts the busted conche refiner we purchased before to shame - in size and in quality. Once we removed the massive crate from the delivery truck and began carefully removing the crate planks to inspect the machine this was apparent. We then spent the better part of a 100 degree day getting 5,500 lbs. through the Olive & Sinclair bay door and then through yet an even smaller one to it's final destination at the back of the shop. Thanks to Randy and family again for all their assistance.

Now that we have this beast in place it'll be wired, plumbed and Scott and I will start running all those carefully roasted nibs, brown sugar and cocoa butter through it. We've gotten so many product ideas and have just finished pairing down which to send out the door first. Stay tuned guys...we're very, very close.

The Stone Grinder..

2009-05-24T07:44:00.000-07:00

With about two more weeks left before our new MacIntyre conche refiner shows up on our doorstep from Scotland we're both busy wrapping up a lot of finishing touches at the shop. Lots of beans are arriving, Bryce is carving out our wrapper art press, bulk bar packages are being developed, signs are being designed, refrigeration getting sorted..the list goes on and on. In the meantime we've also gotten ourselves a stone grinder from 'ol Mexico. The reason we decided to do an initial grind before concheing is so instead of putting whole cocoa nibs staright into the conche with the other ingredients we can first grind down the nibs to a liquid. This will, in effect, lower the amount of stress on the conche. We also think that keeping in step with southern artisan chocolate making that nothing but a natural stone initial grind is order. It's yet another amazing (and simple) machine and will give us yet another device to tinker with until the conche arrives.

The molds have arrived..

2009-04-03T11:26:00.000-07:00

We've just received our new molds and I have to say we're rather pleased with them. You'd be surprised the amount of choices one has to make to settle on them! Length? Width? Depth? Shape? Break off tabs? No break off tabs? You get the picture. We just decided to keep it simple and classic with our logo embedded into each tab on the mold.

In other important news - we've decided to move on from our first conche refiner (and the gremlins that plagued it) which we used for about twenty minutes before its untimely demise. However, we have moved on to bigger and better things. Our new MacIntyre 250KG batch conche refiner is far superior to our previous machine. This guy does about five times as much as the last one so we'll definitely be able to grow into it. It also weighs two and three quarter tons so if you want to help us unload it you can come on over. Word is that we'll be receiving it at the end of this month. Once it's hooked up everything will be in place!

Cocoa Bella 2009

2009-03-30T14:15:00.001-07:00

While we're patiently waiting for our industrial conche refiner to be repaired we took part in an annual benefit south of Nashville in Columbia, TN called Cocoa Bella that showcased different artisan chocolate from around the world. As the sponsor of the event we were on hand to talk about the how cocoa is harvested and fermented then the journey it makes once within our production facility - from roasting to tempering. We even brought a limited amount of our signature chocolate (64%) and the smaller lab equipment that we made it on so we could demonstrate some of the actual process in person. Other than our chocolate we were featured in a tasting along side the likes of Valrhona Guanaja 70% and Côte d’Or Noir de Noir 54%. There was also a milk chocolate tasting that featured Green & Black's 34%, a Sharffen Berger 41% and Michel Cluizel Mangaro 50%. We had a great time chatting with everyone and explaining exactly what it is we do. We also took the opportunity to introduce a chcolate tea that we've been tinkering on at our lab. It's mighty good!

In other news we are still in the process of getting our conche refiner fixed. We are quite close and will be up and running soon. We thank you for your patience!

Needed: Conche Exorcist!

2009-02-04T16:18:00.000-08:00

So there's been a lot of development in the long road to getting Olive & Sinclair off the ground over the past month. Approvals from government agencies, logo designs, wrapper designs, cocoa bean roasting and lots and lots of testing. Obviously priority one is developing an amazing chocolate to provide you all with - and that certainly takes patience and time.

The one issue that's delayed our production is a lemon of a conche refiner (the one we put cocoa liquor, cocoa butter, sugar and other yummy things into and grind them all down) that we're working on getting straightened out as soon as possible. Fortunately all of our other equipment is rock solid and once our cocoa refiner has been replaced we'll be back in the saddle and sprinting toward our opening date. In the meantime we're still very hard at work in the testing stages and taking great care that we're going to satisfy your hand made chocolate needs and become Nashville's own southern, artisan chocolate makers.

As I mentioned previously we're very proud to have a completed logo and nearly completed packaging thanks to the guys over at the Anderson Design Group - and I got hand it to them - they're top notch and have a heck of an eye for what we've been envisioning over the past months. I think it's certainly safe to reveal our new logo right now as we really can't sit on it any longer. We want to assure you that neither of us can wait to get our chocolate creations out to you and are terribly excited to hear back what you think!

¡Ole!

2008-12-18T21:05:00.000-08:00

As Scott & I are trying to add the final touches to the Olive & Sinclair Chocolate production facility we want to give some thanks to Carrington Fox for a mention at The Nashville Scene blog. If you haven't had a look already we invite you to click the image below.

In recent weeks Scott, the lady friends and myself have added a bit of an organic feel to the shop by finishing out our counter space (which we invite you to have a lean on) with a woodsy tree cross-section feel. We'd like to give a shout out to a few limbs of some trees in Leiper's Fork for their sacrifice.

We've also added our stainless production tables for bar wrapping and general production-ality. The next few days are filled with cocoa bean roaster testing which we'll report on shortly!

we love machines: part 3

2008-11-15T06:44:00.000-08:00

Thankfully our final delivery of machines has arrived direct from the UK: the conche refiner and chocolate holding tank are now tucked safely at McGavock and Riverside. What the heck is a conche refiner? Its job is a simple one: develop mouth feel (conching) and reduction of partical size (refining). This lucky vessel breaks down the cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa fat and other ingredients into tiny, tiny particles which then yields untempered chocolate. The chocolate then pumps from the conche refiner to our holding tank where it's kept at a proper temperature and hangs out until it's then pumped on to the Gami tempering device. We're completely excited about getting them installed and pumped together so we can get this chocolate ball rolling!

In other chocolate factory developments we are in the process of building our front counter at which we look forward to sliding a bar or two of chocolate across to you. Thanks to Randy for all his help with this!

We are finally nearing the end of a very long journey (almost a year!) of choosing machinery, having it built to specification, receiving it and getting it installed. It's a huge relief to have each component of the machinery puzzle at the shop and ready to crank to kick out some mighty tasty chocolate!

Professor Crankenstein..

2008-10-24T16:49:00.000-07:00

..was the name of our original hand crank winnowing device...it wasn't much bigger than a Mr. Coffee. However, we've graduated to bigger and better devices to do our chocolate bidding. I guess it's comparable to suffering through the old hand crank ice cream churns and having a nice, new sorbet machine. The cocoa bean winnower that you've probably already seen in the short video we've had for a while has been received, put together and tested in our production space here at our east side shop. It's loud as hell but it can crank through several pounds of beans in no time flat allowing us to shell beans in a flash! We owe a great deal of thanks to John Vessa and his wife Kim who single-handedly (well, almost) built this monstrosity, shipped it to us, and flew up here to train us and rebuild it in our shop. We are definitely indebted to these two confectionery veterans (his wife created Airheads!)

So now that we have our roaster, winnower and temperer we're in need of only a few more pieces to complete the puzzle. Testing begins soon!

Cuckoo for cocoa pods..

2008-10-06T12:20:00.000-07:00

..or at least what's inside of them! We've received our first shipment of cocoa beans which consists of approx. 2400 lbs of Panamanian and Ecuadorian beans. We've been roasting, refining and tempering beans from literally around the globe (Domincan Republic, Ghana, Ivory Coast, ect, ect) trying to find the cocoa beans that really encapsulate the flavor we want to come out of the gate with. And that's not to say we won't come back to beans we've passed on in the beginning to create future bars..we just have a certain vision for our numero uno. It's really interesting how beans from different regions can vary so greatly..Dominican beans have raisin-y notes, Ivory Coast has heavy chocolate notes but not much in substance on the end. I think with our choices we might have it just right.

So, in the very near future we're certain to be dropping beans down the hopper and spreading the rich aroma of roasting cocoa beans to East Nashville..or at least our little portion of it.

we like machines part 2

2008-09-20T10:56:00.000-07:00

The most important piece of the chocolate puzzle has arrived - the cocoa roaster. This beast roasts 50 pounds per batch at up to 125,000 BTU's. It's pretty serious piece of machinery! We had originally received it two weeks ago but it somehow got a bit mangled in transit. So it had to be sent back and repaired. Our duct guy came out yesterday and got the cool and hot air venting completed and piped out our smokestack. Finally feels like we're rolling!

we like machines..

2008-09-09T08:42:00.000-07:00

After a few weeks of radio silence (could have bored you with FDA meeting blog posts but decided better of it) I'm proud to announce the production equipment is finally starting to roll in. This week our chocolate tempering machine has arrived unscathed in the delivery process. Why temper chocolate? In the tempering process the machine heats the chocolate, cools it down, then brings it back up to the melting point again. The reason for doing this is to stabilize the cocoa butter crystals so they are all uniform in size. The result is a shiny luster to the chocolate and that satisfying snap when you break off a piece. In the very near future more machinery will continue to roll in hopefully resulting in production as soon as next month!

Most of the work at our location has been completed. Our giant chalkboard (we gotta put our ideas somewhere) will be wrapped up this weekend as well as few other small projects. We'll definitely keep you posted and hopefully add some new video this weekend. Oh, I forgot to mention, we'll have our logo worked out soon as well! That means we get to do some cool stuff like: create our building sign, order some awesome hats, make t-shirts, jumpsuits, petwear...you get the idea.

Fluorescent Free Zone

2008-08-11T09:50:00.000-07:00

Ok, so there were lights previously but we pulled them down because I don't think either of us could bare the thought of making chocolate under fluorescent lighting. It can be just a bit hollow sometimes. So we got our new lights hung this week and fortunately we were lucky enough to find these great industrial caged lights that are pretty great.

Hopefully we'll be seeing our completed logo very soon and also be installing a chalkboard on the stripped wall in our office area pictured below! It'll pretty much serve as a giant post it note/place for ideas/ect./etc..

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls...the chocolate room..

2008-08-04T20:17:00.000-07:00

This week we managed to get quite a bit of progress made on our production space. A fresh coat of paint and some serious 3 phase electricity was completed. This week we're installing our new lighting and 3 compartment sink while we're waiting for our machinery to arrive. We also hope to get our smoke stack installed for our cocoa bean roaster very soon. Above are a few pictures I took this evening - if you've been to Riverside Village's rear courtyard, the portholes along the wall opposite the herb garden look into our space. We'll also be replacing the sign just as soon as our logo is finished up!

Shelling beans in Largo, Fl.

2008-07-30T14:28:00.000-07:00

This past week Scott blasted down to Largo, Fl. to meet with a fella called John Vessa who is a "confectionery engineer" (no idea if that's his job title - I just made it up) who is constructing our cocoa winnower. This guy has been in the business for ages and knows his stuff in a major way. What's a winnower? A winnower does a very simple job. It removes the shell from the cocoa bean and puts the shells in one stack and the cocoa bean in another. Strangely for such an uncomplicated job it's going to be the largest machine we have at a hulking 12' x 6' x 4'. It's a real humdinger. Anyway, Scott got a chance to see the machine in action and also get a feel for this monstrosity who will soon be headed northbound to our little shop. Anyway, here's Scott taming this great beast:

Apparently there are only three of these machines in existence. One is in Hawaii at Kona Chocolate and the other is owned by those Hershey guys.

Nashville's Artisan Chocolate Makers

2008-07-17T12:55:00.000-07:00

It's been an incredible road already...locating equipment, locating the right size equipment, approving artwork, talking to cocoa bean suppliers, trying to find a location to make what we're passionate about - which is artisan chocolate. We have this dream of making incredible chocolate from its rawest form (the cocoa bean) then roasting, refining and tempering the chocolate into bars that not only stand up against our own strict personal standards, but are accessible to anyone who enjoys a good hunk of chocolate. And who doesn't?!

So it's our good fortune that the Olive & Sinclair production space has landed at Riverside Village in the heart of East Nashville. The space that was formerly Neet Designs is in the process of being transformed into the Olive & Sinclair Chocolate manufacturing facility. We'll keep you updated with words, pictures and video of Scott and I receiving giant machinery and finishing the space out to meet our and your needs. In the meantime, follow along with our saga to become Nashville's first artisan chocolate makers. If you feel the need to ask us questions, sling us an email at info@oliveandsinclair.com.