Colt’s Chocolate

October 29, 2020

It doesn’t get much more Nashville than Colts Chocolate, where music legacy and comfort food intersect. This famous “stage to stove” company is Nashville’s oldest operational specialty chocolate manufacturer, founded by a former Hee Haw cast member. Folks all over the country clamor for hand-crafted Colts Bolts, the company’s first product and signature treat. Once you try a Colt’s Bolt, you’ll never reach for a certain orange-wrapped peanut butter cup again.

This is no lavender-infused experiment or bacon-wrapped trend; Colt’s is more interested in happiness than hipness. This company built its reputation on the simple joy of timeless ingredients, lovingly combined in small batches. In the case of the famous Colts Bolts, that means just peanut butter, whole almonds, and chocolate. Sound too easy? Here’s the secret: the almonds make the magic, hand-roasted to perfection. This winning combo earned Colt’s the sofi™ Award from the Specialty Food Association—the Academy Award of the food business.

Mackenzie Colt founded Colt’s Chocolate in 1984, and her story reads like a country song. Determined teen bride and mom juggles music and motherhood to pursue her dreams; opens on tour for Buck Owens to put her husband through law school; moves to Music City for a six-year stint on a national country music variety show; leaves the music business to follow her true love of cooking. Heck, Mackenzie even started her life as a chocolatier in a little commercial kitchen that had formerly housed Minnie Pearl’s fried chicken business.

More than 35 years later, Colt’s is a familiar household name. Specialty shops, hotels, and retail stores around the country carry the company’s handmade products, and restaurants across the Southeast sweeten their menus with Colt’s incredible pies and treats. Celebrities from Dolly Parton and Vince Gill to Priscilla Presley and Garth Brooks can’t get enough of the company’s handcrafted chocolates and Southern desserts.

Never too big for its britches, Colt’s Chocolates are still handcrafted in Music City, headquartered in East Nashville. Though the original Bolt is still the company’s hands-down most popular item, Marie McGhee's Bumble Bees give the Bolt a run for its money. Named for Mackenzie’s mother, the single-serving treat features buttery salted caramel and roasted pecans thickly covered in pure milk chocolate.

Made in TN is proud to carry Original Colt’s Bolts, Marie McGhee’s Bumble Bees, Chocolate Covered Marshmallows and Peanut Butter Bella Bark. Find your favorite here.

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