Happy New Year Everyone!!!

Thanks for a wonderful 2009!

Great New Chocolate things from

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

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

Double-Dang right we're proud..

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!

...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

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

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•

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

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!

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

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!)

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

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

www.nashvillescene.com

WIN FREE O&S CHOCOLATE!!!

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

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

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!

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

seduced by the dark side..

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.

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..

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

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!

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!

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..

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.

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

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..

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..

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..

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..

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..

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

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!

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!