Beer and Chocolate pairing

[Stodbrew]

I will be doing a Beer and Chocoalte dinner at the pub in a few weeks with "Cocoa" Pete Slosberg. I did a pre tasting with Pete's chocolates and my beers and was pleasantly surprised with the results. Four of his chocolates and four of my beers paired extremely well. I will probably be bringing in some belgian beers for the dinner, as well.

I guess my question is, have any of you paired beers with chocolate? If so, what were they, and what were your impressions?

[BluesHarp]

I've had brownies with Guiness,Young's Double Chocolate Stout, and with Imperial stouts (yes, I like brownies); and some toffee-coffee Christmas bars with coffee stout.

Both the similar pairings and dry-sweet Guiness pairings were very good; brings out subtle tastes in both elements.

The Imperial stout combo is interesting; many IS's are very sweet, but the chocolate fudge cancels out the sweetness of the beer, making the other flavors really pop.

On an aside - the other night I had dinner at a brewpub; and for dessert I had a slice of key lime pie with a glass of Belgian Dubbel...superb!!

[unkle bik]

I always thought my homebrewed stout tasted great while munching a Hershey's Dark chocolate.
Gotta be dark, though. It's that bitterness.

[threecb]

Oh man, I wish I was in your neck of the woods, Stod! My wife would love that dinner!

I've had various chocolate desserts with stouts and porters at brewpubs and have always liked the combination. I think some belgians should go well with chocolates, too, though the closest I've come to that was Troeg's Mad Elf with a dark chocolate Lindt truffle around christmas. I think they went great together.

I think those belgians with a raison/date characteristic should complement chocolate nicely.

[Stodbrew]

Thanks for the input, guys! It should be a fun and tasty evening. When we did our preliminary tasting, we paired his Maltimus Maximus, a malt based chocolate, with my Pale Ale, and the flavors melded amazingly well. His Nuts So Serious, we paired with my Scotch Ale. The Berry Berry Dangerous paired with my ESB. And the Hallowed Grounds will be paired with my stout that Tweek helped me brew and I will be putting on tap today. I was amazed at how the flavors all blended together.

[Beaver]

Wow! Sounds very cool Stod! I wish I coulda been there.

[threecb]

Sounds like great pairings! The only one that intrigues me as "different" is the Pale Ale. I'll have to try it myself with my available resources. Berry chocolate and ESB sounds cool!

Is Pete's chocolate still only available on the west coast? I'd be interested in obtaining some for my wife (and me:rolleyes: ) to try. Beer for chocolate trade?

[Stodbrew]

It looks like the chocolate is only available in the Bay Area and the Pacific Northwest. However, I can, and would be more than happy to send you some. Let me know what you would like, and I can hook you up. :)

I was surprised, too that a pale ale went nicely with chocolate, but it was really quite good.

Cheers!

Steve

[chazwicke]

I have read several articles in the past about beer and chocolate pairings. The two are definitely complementary. Also I attended a beer and cheese pairing conducted by Garrett Oliver last month using all Australian cheezes. Man! Was that good!

[skahtboi]

Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout and German Chocolate cake, a combination that can't be beat!

[unkle bik]

And I used to think that pizza & beer was the only combination.
Glad I discovered real beer. It's a big world out there!

[Tweek]

Originally posted by chazwicke
I have read several articles in the past about beer and chocolate pairings. The two are definitely complementary. Also I attended a beer and cheese pairing conducted by Garrett Oliver last month using all Australian cheezes. Man! Was that good!

That must have been fun. Cheese goes with everything imo. :D

[ontap78]

I once had a dark chocolate torte served with Schell's Schmaltz's alt at a Schell's sponsered gourmet dinner and it was fantastic. It's too bad they quit making the Schmaltz cause it was great with a chocolate dessert. Maybe they will make it again as a limited brew at Christmas time ( I heard the rumor once).

[Tweek]

Last night I had Stodbrews stout and a thin mint girl scout cookie, DROOL! It was tasty. Does that count?

[ontap78]

One of these days I'm going to try making a chocolate stout or porter. I know a lot of people didn't like the Sam Adams chocolate bock, but I guess I liked it. The price was a bit scary but I figured it was like buying a bottle of wine ( my wife's logic. she really liked it and she isn't a beer person).I'm also toying with the idea of making hybrid chocolate bock/ porter using a california lager yeast. How bizzare is that. I don't make lagers because it's too much of a temperature hassle for me so I figure I'll use the california yeast when I try this. Good luck to me. Has anybody out there tried anything like this?

[steveh]

Originally posted by Tweek
Last night I had Stodbrews stout and a thin mint girl scout cookie, DROOL! It was tasty. Does that count?

Only one? Of EACH? Man, you are the model of self-control! ;)

S.

[Tweek]

Originally posted by steveh
Only one? Of EACH? Man, you are the model of self-control!

S.


Well only one thin mint, that was all there was :eek: