(Chocolate) Terms like “cask-aged” or “barrel-aged” evoke images of whisky casks in Scottish dunnage warehouses and wine cellars lined with French barriques. The art and science of aging chocolate is a comparatively young field, pioneered by To’ak Chocolate.

To’ak was born of a rainforest conservation project in Ecuador and has been producing single-origin, tree-to-bar chocolate from the heirloom Nacional cacao since 2013. Driven by a passion to elevate dark chocolate to an experience on par with aged wines and whiskies, and by the fascination of pairing it with spirits, To’ak co-founder, Jerry Toth, began exploring the possibilities of aging chocolate in 2013. The team, led by him, Dennise Valencia, and Carl Schweizer, experimented with boxes crafted from native wood and glass vessels and turned to the University of Washington for scientific insights. In 2014, they embarked on their first cask-aged venture, using a 50-year-old French oak Cognac cask. To date, To’ak has experimented with dozens of vessels, including sherry, rum, tequila, and whisky casks, and with maturation periods ranging from 12 months to ten years.

While aged whiskies owe up to 80 percent of their flavor to the cask, cacao naturally contains hundreds of flavor compounds, many shared with wine. The value of barrel-aging chocolate, though time-consuming and risky, lies in the increased complexity of the flavor profile. Unlike many cask-aged chocolates, which rely on soaking cacao nibs in actual spirits, To’ak focuses on oxygen-based flavor extraction. Due to its high fat content, cacao has a remarkable ability to absorb other aromas. Thanks to that, chocolate is predestined to draw out the compounds present in the wood of the barrel as well as subtle notes of the spirits that previously inhabited it. To take this effect further, To’ak incorporates other aromatic ingredients like Ecuadorian Palo Santo or Kampot pepper into the aging process. This way, the flavor of the chocolate is transformed in a much more refined way than by simply adding ingredients.

Oxidation is another key factor in maturation, allowing aromas to blend and tannins to soften. Since chocolate is solid at room temperature, To’ak needed to optimize the exposure to oxygen. Instead of cacao nibs, blocks, or chunks, most of their chocolate is aged in coin form to maximize the surface area. To’ak’s hometown of Quito, with its dry climate, is ideal for chocolate production, but the low humidity causes the barrels to contract. To prevent excessive oxidation, the barrels are periodically coated with cacao butter on the outside.

Given the many variables involved, not every aging process proceeds as planned, even with over a decade of experience. Since To’ak’s chocolate is too precious to waste, batches that have not benefited from ageing to the extent expected are meticulously blended and balanced with other harvests—yet another parallel to the wines and spirits that have paved the way for this new frontier of premium chocolate.