The Bowers Museum is excited to bring back its fourth annual International Festival of Chocolate, hosting a weekend of delicious events this Saturday and Sunday. While the festival is free to attend, there will also be select ticketed events and specialty chocolates for sale by Gourmet Chocolatiers.
The event will kick off on Saturday with a chocolate tasting workshop from 1:30 to 3 p.m.: Tasting Cacao Origins from Around the World with Fresco Artisan Chocolate. Chocolate-maker Rob Anderson will explore how cacao grown in different regions can produce chocolate with dramatically different flavors. Attendees can taste and review 1 to 1.5 gram samples of seven different award-winning chocolates. Tickets are $50 for general admission and $40 for members. Space is limited and advanced reservations are suggested. Tickets can be purchased here.
The free family festival will take place on Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Key Courtyard. Celebrate with art projects, face painting, and music and dance performances representing the rich cultures of the chocolate lands of Mexico and South America, Africa, and Indonesia. From 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., attendees can join Dr. Lee Scott Theisen for an introduction on how to taste craft chocolate while learning about its history. There will be free to-go samples for the first 50 attendees.
For attendees ages 21 and older, a Chocolate & Whiskey Tasting will take place on Sunday from 2 to 3 p.m. Jon Theisen and Blinking Owl Distillery’s head of tasting, Dylan Almendral, as they take you through an indulgent tasting experience featuring the Santa Ana establishment’s house-distilled whiskeys paired with craft chocolate from Taiwan, Italy, and the Dominican Republic. Tickets are $50 for general admission and $40 for members. Space is limited and advanced reservations are required.
For more information, visit bowers.org
