December 2013

Village Candy
344 Beaver Street
Sewickley PA
412.741.1490
Tues - Sat 10-5
Wed 'til 8

December Edition

Candyman's Holiday Gift Guide

New in the Chocolate Department

Gumming Up The Works

Son of Candy Alphabet

Quick Links

Check Us Out On The Web at

villagecandy.com

The holiday season is in full swing, as is evident by the weather and Friday's great Sewickley Light Up Night. Hundreds of people walked through our doors to view and get an early crack at our seasonal items. We're still overflowing with unusual and unique possibilities, along with memories from the candy past, which we seem to have a special knack for finding. There is not a sole on this earth that doesn't like receiving candy under the tree or in their stocking. It's one of those rare gifts that isn't needed, and isn't asked for, but is NEVER a disappointment. Unlike a trout necktie, a Chia pet or a sweater with Rudolph, complete with blinking nose.

And while we're mentioning the season, Village Candy would like to wish all our wonderful customers and their families a safe and happy Christmas, and look forward to taking care of your sweet teeth in the new year.

I'd like to take this opportunity to direct you to our online Holiday Shopping Catalog. It has just about everything we have in store for your gift-giving (or taking) pleasure. However, I'm going to expend a few words to highlight some special ideas. Always nice to receive is a 6-pack of different root beers or any of our other pop categories for your giftee's very own tasting. The same is true for a selection of different artisan chocolate bars - whether they prefer dark, milk, organic, vegan, sustainable or any combination therein. Milk chocolate shapes are always a pleasure for the little ones (including new nut-free shapes this year), and if you have a bacon theme this year, we have it in the form of soda, gummi, necklace, chocolate or candy cane. And regarding candy canes, we have big, small, and character-branded offerings. Don't forget Jelly Belly assortments, maple sugar candy, and a choice of our bagged offerings, like cut rock, chocolate-filled mint straws, spiced gumdrops, gummi bears and more. And our Big Retro Collection boxes are ALWAYS a hit!

Bean to "Santa" Barbara to Bar

twenty-four blackbirds

In 2010 Mike Orlando, along with his girlfriend and sister, started Twenty-Four Blackbirds in Santa Barbara, CA. Mike's background is in marine biology and chemistry (he even spent a few years as an aquarist). His skills in running a well-designed experiment have served him well throughout the chocolate making process. As it turns out, creating a subtly sweet, innocent-looking 1/2 ounce chocolate bar is far from simple. twenty-four blackbirds Bolivia Bar

Twenty-Four Blackbirds chocolate - wrapped simply in kraft paper - is a bean-to-bar chocolate bar meant for everyone. (No fancy gold wrappers, pretense and pomp!) Each bar has intense, explosive flavor. Mike is making some of the best chocolate around and he's doing it on his own terms, often building his own equipment, with a lot of experimentation, tinkering and of course, tasting.

Village Candy is proud to feature twenty-four blackbirds 1.41 ounce bars of Dominican Republic Dark 68%, Bolivia Dark 75% and Madagascar Dark 75%, and the latter also in a 1/2 ounce bar. We think you'll agree they're something special.

New from Taza

Taza's stone ground chocolate making process is inspired by centuries-old Mexican chocolate traditions. They use authentic Oaxacan stone mills called molinos to grind their cacao, hand carved with granite millstones. These stones minimally refine the cacao beans, capturing all their vibrant flavors and allowing tiny bits of cacao and organic cane sugar to remain in the finished chocolate. The result: chocolate brimming with bright tastes and bold textures.

Every piece of Taza Chocolate is made from bean-to-bar, and Village Candy offers both their Stone Ground Bars (high percentage, single-origin pure dark stone ground chocolate bars with intense cacao flavor and an ever-so-slightly gritty texture) and their Chocolate Mexicano (rustic, round dark stone ground chocolate discs with a distinctively gritty texture, some sweet, some savory, some spicy).

Just in time for the holidays are two new bars: Pan de Jengibre
(Gingerbread in Spanish) - the sweetness of Taza's 60% Stone Taza Coco Besos

Ground dark chocolate paired with the warmth and spice of gingerbread; and Coco Besos (no relation to the Amazon.com founder) - the sweet intensity of Taza's 70% dark stone ground chocolate, kissed with organic coconut and a hint of salt. Also in

store are two new Chocolate Mexicano discs: Spiked Eggnog - combining rich Dominican cacao with the warming essence of rum; and Fire Puncher - inspired by Taza's friends at Taza Fire Puncher

GrandTen Distilling of South Boston, a 70% dark Chocolate Mexicano spiked with a unique blend of chilies to create a knockout flavor with an addictive fiery kick.

And, as all Taza products, they're USDA certified organic and certified direct trade, gluten-free, dairy & soy free and Kosher Pareve.

Gumming Up The Works

Glee Pouches and Tree Hugger

Village Candy has proudly offered Glee Gum since the day we opened. It's natural chewing gum made with sustainably harvested rainforest chicle, and we have all their 9 great flavors. It is the #1 healthy alternative to synthetic chewing gum and bubble gum, with no artificial colors, flavors, preservatives, or sweeteners (no aspartame), and is non-GMO Project Verified. And now they offer resealable pouches containing 75 pieces, and we have them in three flavors - Peppermint, Bubblegum and a new sugar-free flavor, Watermelon!

New to Village Candy is all natural Tree Hugger Bubblegum. It tastes delicious, chews great and promotes and supports rain forests. This Fantastic Fruit resealable pouch contains pomegranate, classic bubblegum, watermelon, lemonade and wild berry. Tree Hugger has no artificial flavors or colors, is gluten free and nut free.

And One More Thing...

Son of Candy Alphabet

o think that this month's candy is actually the name of a specific product AND a name given to a type of candy. Who knew? Now, remember how this gig works? The picture of the letter to the left is an actual representation a letter of a specific candy product as it appears on the package. Your mission is to figure out which one.

Submit your guess in an email to candyalphabet@villagecandy.com. We'll print all the correct respondents names on individual Christmas lights, and when one of them goes out (as you know one inevitably will), we will try to replace it. When we get all tangled up in the wires (as you know we inevitably will), we will have crushed the winning light in one hand and gotten embedded shards (with the winning name) to prove it. We'll dream up a memorable token of our appreciation, and then we'll actually act on that dream.

Last Alphabet's correct answer was Slo Poke, and was submitted by Michael Barnett. Your prize awaits.

Slo Pokes originated in 1926 as delicious caramel slabs on a stick, Though the new version tastes great, they've done away with the stick altogether. Slo Pokes were originally a product of the Holloway Candy Company, a sister product to Milk Duds and Black Cows. Gilliam Candy Company acquired the Slo Poke brand in 1998, and they started making both the Slo Poke suckers and the bite-size Slo Poke Caramels.

Slo Poke as well as the Black Cow are now produced by the Classic Caramel Company, a newly created division of the Warrell Corporation.

Village Candy is an old-time, new-fangled retail shop specializing in a unique selection of retro and current bulk and novelty candy, artisan chocolates, glass-bottled pop and candy-themed gifts. Oh, and remember customer service? It's back!

We are here Tuesday thru Saturday 10 am to 5 pm, but on Wednesday we stay late until 8! We are closed Sunday and Monday.

Sincerely,