The North Texas Well being Insurance coverage President Who Become a Hill Nation Chocolatier

For those who have been fortunate sufficient to get on Dr. Dan McCoy’s Christmas chocolate checklist over the past couple of many years, you already knew that the previous Blue Pass Blue Defend of Texas president knew his method round a cocoa bean, however his newest enterprise as the landlord of Hill Nation Chocolate and its sister corporate DKM Cellars has taken his hobby to a brand new degree.

McCoy is a person of many skills. Prior to shifting into the C-suite at Blue Pass, he used to be a dermatologist. Right through his time as an insurance coverage govt, D CEO mag wrote about his hobby for images, fantastically shooting on a regular basis lifestyles on his travels. On the time, we didn’t know that McCoy had crammed his visitor space with chocolate-making apparatus, experimenting with flavors and textures and making loads of goodies to ship to buddies each and every yr for the vacations.

He have been emailing and calling chocolate mavens for years, finding out about molds and cocoa beans to get the easiest style. “It’s a loopy mix of science and creativity,” he says. “It appealed to my mind, so I began doing issues, and I took a couple of categories right here and there, and I were given numerous recommendation from other folks.”

After leaving Blue Pass in 2020, he started to do a little healthcare consulting, however quickly grew uninterested in being restricted to zoom calls all day. Years in the past, he had purchased a space in Fredericksburg and started toying with the theory of taking his chocolate skills to the Hill Nation. And he’s arriving with some formal training. After deciding he used to be observing an excessive amount of Netflix a number of years in the past, he enrolled in two certification classes in viticulture and Texas winemaking from Texas Tech College’s plant and soil science division, which is primarily based in Fredericksburg. He graduated in 2020.

The dream become a fact when he shaped Hill Nation Chocolate, a store 5 mins from Fredericksburg’s primary drag, which is replete with boutiques, eating places, and an untold choice of bachelorette events. The 4,000 sq. foot store is a “bean to bar” chocolate manufacturing unit that was once a wooden store.

McCoy insists on ethically sourced beans and isn’t afraid to experiment. His confections run the gamut from artisanal bon bons to different creations the usage of Okinawan black sugar, espresso, black pepper, or even an orange ganache. There also are conventional confections like almond butter toffee, pecan caramel, and peanut brittle.

He additionally runs DKM cellars out of the gap, the place he companions with wine-makers around the globe and has began his personal winery (it isn’t generating grapes but). Central Coast California Rosé and Sauvignon Blanc, a Tuscan pink wine, and a Moscato di Asti from Piedmont are already at the menu.

The store has a tasting room that McCoy describes as a speakeasy vibe that mixes wine and chocolate for a 90-minute tasting consultation that features a chocolate-infused charcuterie board. “Other folks have at all times had this herbal romance between chocolate and wine,” McCoy says. “When other folks come right here, we begin to describe all of the synergies. Each crops are perennial crops, and each end result are picked off the crops in the similar method. Each are fermented just about the place they’re picked. There’s numerous similarities between the goods.”

The chocolate manufacturing unit opened in April, they usually have been open to the general public in Would possibly. The chocolate is being offered in a few space wineries, and the group additionally introduced a wine membership. The website online introduced q4.

McCoy remains to be conserving his consulting paintings, the place his corporate has numerous healthcare purchasers however is increasing to different industries. He specializes in storytelling and enjoys serving to organizations craft their message and goal a particular target audience.

He’s the usage of those self same abilities as of late, telling the tale of ways chocolate and wine supplement each and every different at Hill Nation Chocolate and DKM Cellars. “It’s now not simply romance; it’s chemistry,” he says. “Either one of those merchandise have been manipulated and remodeled in a lot the similar method, they usually ended up having a singular talent to head in combination.”