| There are a lot of people doing a lot of interesting things out there, but the best job ever held by any man or woman, living or dead, is currently held by Fred Eckhardt (who is very much a living man). Fred is the world's leading authority on the pairing of beer and chocolate.
From his home base in Portland, Oregon, Eckhardt has traversed the Pacific to spread his joy in Tokyo and traversed the Atlantic to spread his joy in London. Awhile back, All About Beer magazine published one of Eckhardt’s articles on the subject. His unique expertise is highly sought.
While wine and chocolate are notorious enemies, beer and chocolate are like Batman and Robin. Love and marriage. Rock and roll. Is it a mere coincidence that Belgium is famous for both beer and chocolate? Experiment freely with your combinations, but here are some thoughts to get you started.
Many beers have flavours very similar to those of chocolate and many people think that this fact would make them a great combination. But often the flavours are too closely matched and get lost in each other. My approach to beer and chocolate, then, is to search for different but complementary flavours.
Dark chocolate has a high content of cocoa solids and little or no milk. While it may be sweetened, it is generally more bitter than milk chocolate. Sweet and sour beers therefore provide balance and make a good accompaniment. Try the Belle-Vue Kriek from Belgium, which is available in 375 ml champagne-corked bottles.
White chocolate is very low in cocoa butter and usually very sweet. This sweetness needs to be cut with something bitter, although English-style bitters and pale ales tend to have too many floral and hops-flavoured aromas to make the combination work. Reach for an English stout instead. Try McAuslan's St. Ambroise Oatmeal Stout, available in six packs, or Yukon Brewing's Midnight Sun Espresso Stout, available in one-litre flip-top bottles.
Milk chocolate generally has a creamier texture and is less bitter than dark chocolate. It will therefore pair well with a bolder beer. You can fall back to the stouts again, but here is where the bitters and pale ales might work, though you should choose more gentle examples. Calgary's Big Rock Traditional (available everywhere) and Quebec's McAuslan's St. Ambroise Pale Ale, available in six packs, are good bets.
Fruit-filled chocolates match well against beers with a solid malt foundation. Cherry cordials make a great accompaniment to Wild Rose Brown Ale, available in single one-litre flip-top bottles, or Brew Brothers Black Pilsner, uniquely packaged in four packs of 500 ml flip-top bottles. These are very different beers and will yield very different pairing results.
Chocolate chip cookies or chocolates with nuts in them are the exception to my prior "different but complementary flavours" rule. Here, the light nutty and toasty flavours of a good Vienna lager, like Mexico's Dos Equis Amber, are very similar to those found in the accompanying chocolate. But the contrast comes in the texture, so the combination works. The cookies and the nuts are dry and crumbly on the palate, but the beer is smooth and cooling. While it may sound like blasphemy, the combination works even better if you let the beer warm up to reduce its carbonation.
There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to the pairing of beer and chocolate, but keep in mind that chocolate is great fun and not too serious and beer is great fun and not too serious. Have fun. Don't be serious. |
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