You know, sometimes I gotta wonder if the universe has a warped sense of humor. Or maybe it's just trying to drown us in chocolate-flavored nostalgia. Because right now, while Adam Brian Kaiser is over in Syracuse, literally making the good stuff – the real, honest-to-god, four-day-process bonbons – the entire damn planet is getting force-fed a fresh, sticky dose of Willy Wonka. Again.
It’s like the cultural zeitgeist decided, "Hey, what if we made it impossible for anyone to even think about chocolate without a top-hatted eccentric or a tiny orange dude popping into their head?" Give me a break.
Let's be real for a second. While Hollywood execs are busy figuring out how many more prequels and spin-offs they can squeeze out of a single Roald Dahl book, there are actual humans out there, like Adam Brian Kaiser, putting in the work. This guy, a former environmental consultant from NYC, moves to Syracuse, quits his steady job in 2024, and decides, "You know what? I'm gonna make some damn good chocolate." And he does, as detailed in Syracuse’s Willy Wonka: Scientist quits job to launch Adam Brian Chocolat company - This is CNY.
He’s not just melting down some generic bars, either. We’re talking sourcing cocoa from Colombia and Switzerland, picking Gala apples from Navarino Orchards for fillings. His favorite? Dark chocolate raspberry. You can almost smell it, can't you? That rich, slightly bitter cocoa mingling with sweet, tart fruit. He's down in the lower level of the McCarthy Mercantile, sharing a kitchen with some banana pudding joint, probably elbow-deep in cocoa butter, understanding its polymorphic magic thanks to his geology background. That's dedication. That's craft.
He launched Adam Brian Chocolat, hit a festival in Utica, pulled in $1,800 in sales, and thought, "Alright, I'm onto something." His wife and friends are raving about his bonbons. He wants to make "magical" chocolates, make people "wonder how it's created." That's admirable, it really is. A true artisan, right? But then you look up, and the sky ain't just raining bonbons, it's raining purple top hats and golden tickets.
What does it say about our culture that a guy like Kaiser, busting his hump to create something truly special, has to compete for mindshare with a never-ending parade of Wonka chocolate? Is this just a coincidence, or is the universe trying to tell us something about our collective sugar addiction? I'm leaning towards the latter, and honestly... it's a bit much.
So, while Kaiser is meticulously crafting each four-day bonbon masterpiece, the rest of us are being bombarded with the latest iteration of the willy wonka saga. The "Wonka" movie – yeah, the 2023 one with Timothée Chalamet as a young Willy – is now streaming on Netflix. And let me tell you, the reviews are a trip.
"Unnecessary prequel," some said initially. Then, suddenly, it's a "big, candy-colored, whimsical musical" that "made me cry multiple times." Cried multiple times? Over a Wonka movie prequel? Look, I get it, emotions are a thing, but come on. It's an origin story for Gene Wilder's Wonka, supposedly, but it’s directed by the same guy who did "Paddington." So, it's a "spiritual sequel" to a bear movie. You can't make this stuff up. It’s like they just threw all the feel-good ingredients into a blender and hoped for the best. And Hugh Grant as an Oompa-Loompa? With "self-aware seriousness"? That just sounds like a studio trying to make a referential joke so hard it breaks its own back.
Then, not to be outdone, Flathead High School brings pure imagination to the stage with ‘Willy Wonka' - Daily Inter Lake, complete with "Pure Imagination" and "The Candy Man." Bless their hearts, I'm sure the kids worked their tails off, creating a "positive community" and all that jazz. But it's just another splash in the overflowing bucket of willy wonka and the chocolate factory content. It's everywhere. It's inescapable. It's like a corporate-sponsored sugar rush that you didn't even want.
It makes me wonder, if you’re trying to sell your own unique, artisanal chocolate in this climate, are you riding the wave or getting drowned by it? Kaiser makes bonbons that take four days to craft, each a tiny, edible work of art. The wonka bar on the other hand? That's mass-produced fantasy. It's the difference between a meticulously brewed craft beer and a sugar-laden soda. Both are drinks, sure, but the experience is night and day. And yet, one dominates the cultural conversation. It's a tough world out there for the little guy, ain't it?
So, Adam Brian Kaiser is out there, peddling his genuinely delicious creations at festivals in Syracuse, Colloca Estate, Buffalo, Albany – a lot of hustle. He’s got gift boxes for ten to thirty bucks. He's doing the hard work. Meanwhile, the Wonka-verse just keeps expanding, a purple-coated, musical blob consuming everything in its path. I can't help but think about how much harder it must be to carve out your niche when the entire world is obsessed with a fictional chocolatier. Then again, maybe I'm just a cynical old grump, and people love the fantasy. But I gotta say, my money's on the guy who knows his cocoa butter polymorphic states, not the one who sings about a chocolate river.
