Craft Beer and Chocolate, the Ultimate Indulgence

Chocolate loves a dark beer. Milk chocolate is wonderful with Belgian-inspired strong dark ales. Flourless chocolate cake or truffles call for an inky imperial stout. Fruit beers have an obvious affinity for fruit desserts, but they can be magic with chocolate as well. There are endless possibilities in the world of pairing beer with chocolate.

Many styles of craft beer make the flavors of chocolate expand on the palate. The combination of malt and carbonation create a textural pairing on the palate. Often, wine can’t stand up to the richness and bittersweet flavors of chocolate, while craft beer extends and lifts the flavors of chocolate.

Chocolate and dark ales make such wonderful partners because both are fermented foods, and the flavors of dark roasted barley meld with the aromatics of roasted cocoa and the buttery notes of the finished chocolate.

Check out these suggestions from The Brewers Association American Craft Beer & Food Guide, you can view the entire Craft Beer and Food Matching chart in PDF format (229k) that includes suggested food and cheese pairings as well as flavor profiles for 28 different styles of beer.

Beer Style	Dessert Suggestions	Glasswear
Abbey Dubbel	Heavenly with milk chocolate; butter truffles, chocolate bread pudding	Stemmed Abbey Goblet
Barley Wine	Rich, sweet desserts: chocolate hazelnut torte, toffee caramel cheesecake	Small Tulip or Snifter
Porter	Chocolate peanut butter cookies, toasted coconut cookie bars	American “Shaker” Pint
Dry Stout	Chocolate souffle, tiramisu, mocha mascarpone mousse	Irish Imperial Pint
Sweet or Oatmeal Stout	Chocolate espresso cake, cream puffs, profiteroles	American “Shaker” Pint
Imperial Stout	Dark chocolate truffles, chocolate raspberry mousse cake	Small Tulip or Snifter
Doppelbock	German chocolate cake, Black Forest cake, dried fruit (rumtopf) rum tart	Small Tulip or Snifter

To learn more about pairing beer and chocolate desserts, check out The Best of American Beer and Food by Lucy Saunders, we used it when researching this newsletter and are featuring it on our Beer Enthusiast store this month with a 20% off discount!

Sources:
The Brewers Association American Craft Beer and Food Pamphlet
The Best of American Beer and Food by Lucy Saunders

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Category: Beer News, Brewers Association, Tasting/Pairing