Pairing beer with food can be an amazing experience. All the different beer styles can go with a wide range of foods. I decided to take my passion for dark heavy beers and pair it with something I equally favor: chocolate. I gathered some of my co-workers and had a delicious dark beer and chocolate pairing. Brittany is the novice of the group. She is just learning to like beer and venture out into the darker, bolder ones. John is just dusting off his newbie palate and is working to expand it even more with more obscure styles. Sean has good wine knowledge and is working on developing his beer prowess. Dave is older and has years of experience tasting different potables. Eric holds the same beer expertise I do, as he is a fellow beer consultant. 

For the tasting, I picked out four dark beers and four different brands and types of chocolate to best complement each one. The first pair was done on a different day. It was a Hoppin’ Frog collaboration with Danish brewery Fanᴓ called Natasha Rocks America, and the style was a chocolate rye imperial stout.  I paired it with Vosges Smoke and Stout Caramel Bar, a chocolate bar made with Rogue Chocolate Stout, alder wood smoked salt, and burnt sugar caramel. The taste of both was stunning.

The next three pairings were more in-depth. I asked everyone to silently write down what they smelled and tasted in each beer before and after eating the chocolate. This way I could get what everyone experienced without them being persuaded by others’ thoughts. The first beer and chocolate was the 2013 vintage Widmer Brothers Raspberry Russian Imperial Stout and Raspberry Kona Bar, 35% cocoa with Kona coffee grounds and wild raspberries. I got very light raspberry, oak, jam and milk chocolate in the nose. Taste was a big hop back, char, smoke, smooth, black licorice but no raspberry. After taking a nibble of the chocolate, the hop bite was subdued and raspberry peaked through in the beer. Sean found a raspberry mocha nose with a creamy, nougaty taste. John got raspberry, licorice and rich berries in the nose with a licorice, chocolate and coffee taste. Eric and Dave got mostly the same as John. Brittany noted hearty fruit, plum and licorice smells with a toasty touch of acidity in the taste.    

The second beer and chocolate was Great Divide Chocolate Oak Aged Yeti Russian Imperial Stout with Perugina 51% Cacao Luisa Dark Chocolate Bar. To me the smell was oaky with milk chocolate and light espresso. The taste was velvety with a big virgin oak flash in the front then tropical notes of pineapple, papaya and a little black licorice. The dark chocolate accentuated the chocolate in the brew. Dave also experienced oak, chocolate, licorice and slight pineapple. Sean, John and Eric got the same as Dave and I, sans the pineapple. Brittany found it to be chocolaty and nutty. A side note was the color of the brew was an awesome, thick, used motor oil black.

The third beer and chocolate was The Bruery Rugbrᴓd, a Julebryg style dark rye ale and Sander’s Twisted Toffee and Pretzel Milk Chocolate Bar. I noted sour apple, honey dew, citrus, mango and sour cherry in the nose with a tart, spicy rye, fig and date taste. The pretzel complemented the rye nicely, and the milk chocolate created a sweet and sour effect. Brittany smelled apple and melon and tasted crisp apple cider. Dave tasted apple, melon, lemon and mango and smelled fruity and bready. John found the aroma fruity and caramel with a taste of caramel malt, melon and apple cider. Sean described the smell as Barleywine-esque with a tropical punch taste consisting of mango, pineapple, papaya, figs and dates. Eric remarked it similarly to Sean. 

This was a very nice pairing, which everyone enjoyed. As you can see, the veteran beer drinkers discerned a few more tastes to Brittany’s descriptions but each of our palates turned out to be very akin.

Adam Shugan, ABC Fine Wine & Spirits Beer Consultant - Archer Ave, Gainesville

Follow him on Twitter @abcbeeradams