23 February 2021 - Written By
The long awaited Willy Pete’s Raspberrrry Rain landed on our UK shores with much anticipation and joy. We all know Willy Pete’s for his famous MOAB (Mother of All Bars), Johnny Scoville’s Chili Cherry Nightmare and the Krazy Kimberlin’s Bar with added Bacon. What makes Willy Pete’s different from all other companies? Not only is the company veteran owned, all his chocolates are hand-crafted in small batches.
In addition to this, Willy Pete grows and harvests his own peppers from seed and takes that one step further to dehydrate these peppers for his range of infusions.
I watched legends such as Johnny Scoville from Chase the Heat and Atomik Menace devour this bar. Each one of them agreed that the bar was one of the best tasting chocolate challenges. I found myself eagerly rushing over to the League of Fire to add Raspberry rain to the shopping cart and proceeded to the checkout. I then left it to the Postal Gods to deliver.
The challenge date was set for the 31st January 2021 hosted by the legendary Mr Stephen Dixon. The 5 challengers stepped up: Kevin Tilley, Adele Wilkinson, James Garrett, Stu Walker and me, Cem Dervish. The nervous energy was building backstage (or should I say my nervous energy)!
Fortunately, Stu and Adele told a story or two about previous challenges ending badly, which had the group laughing. My heart rate reduced, and I found myself in the ‘Challenge Zone’ with my focus on a speed time set by Stuart Tarnas of 3 minutes. The timer started, I took my first bite, the snap of the chocolate was delightful and the taste of the jam was spectacular.
I was loving this challenge from the get go. The one thought that was going through my mind was ‘let me chase this 3 minute time!’ – I came out of the box like a whippet! I could hear Stephen calling times out in the distance, and I felt myself slip further into the zone. 2 squares left at the 2 minute mark and then I hit that dreaded wall of jaw fatigue, with lactic acid building up in every muscle in my face, I could chew no longer.
Shaking my head, I did not want this to defeat me so I dug deep… 2:55, 2:56, 2:57, 2:58, and open mouth at 2:59. I would not have achieved that time without the challengers and the outstanding time set by Stewart Tarnas. This gave me the ringside seat to watch all my friends complete their challenges thereafter.
The Raspberrrry Rain is a fantastic challenge, from the first bite to the last swallow was a complete pleasure. The chocolate snapped showing its quality and the jam complemented the arrangement like a perfect marriage, together, hand in hand.
Don’t see this just as a challenge bar as it more than that. This bar is one to savour and enjoy slowly like a fine wine. Saying that… Stewart Tarnas and I have already been in discussion about a Head to Head. Watch this space!
