Chocoholic?

I had managed to amass a sizable collection of chocolate beers; so when the Hotel Chocolat monthly selection box arrived through the mail an idea for a blog post was born: Chocolate beer and chocolate pairing! I was aided by a fellow chocolate lover in this tasting session; so there's some comments from her too.

Top of the Chocs

 Young's Double Chocolate Stout(5.2%)

Pours dark black-brown with thin grey-beige head with aromas of cocoa powder, candi sugar and a hint of rum. Medium bodied with prickly carbonation and a fairly abrupt roasted barley finish and bittersweet aftertaste. For one that scores so highly on ratebeer we were a little disappointed with this one. Pairing this with a caramel macchiato brought out some of the roast malt flavours and chocolate.

Marble Chocolate (5.5%)

A beer that highlights the need to taste the beer before attempting a pairing. The fruity notes in this beer meant that we picked the fruity chocolates from the selection for pairing purposes. Ruby black, fluffy off-white head. Hedgerow fruit nose and  blackcurrant flavour (I thought I was tasting Bramling cross, but ex-brewer Col informed me its 100% Goldings, must be the malt bill then!) with a hint of compost. Long roast barley finish. Sprightly carbonation. Not much sign of chocolate but a great beer nonetheless.Was paired with a summer berry chocolate and also mango sorbet in white chocolate which drew out the fruity flavours.

Saltaire Triple Chocaholic (4.8%)

A triple chocolate attack in the form of chocolate malt, chocolate syrup and real chocolate make this one a bit of a chocobomb. Dark beer with fluffy beige head. Chocolate beige head. Chocolatey to the extreme, aroma, taste and finish. Not sickly, but we decided to pair this with any chocs may have caused death by chocolate!. Another opinion of the beer can be found here.

College Green Molly's Chocolate Stout (4.3%)
Garnet red-brown with minimal head. Noticeable legs for a beer at 4.3 unusual. Hint of beech-smoke then rich roast barley on the nose. Robust body with bitter coffee, dark chocolate and burnt toast. Finishes with a not unpleasant coffee astringency. This would pair well with a  high cocoa chocolate or contrast with something sweet and fruity.

Brentwood Chockwork Orange (6.5%)

Milk chocolate nose with lactose and crystal malt in the body. Roasted malt finish. This was paired with an orange and schnapps truffle, which brought out the orange flavour to great effect.

Robinson Chocolate Tom (in M&S regalia) (6%):

Surprisingly light amber in colour, bitter with sweet and dusty malt chocolate with an initial thin bitterness followed by a sweet chocolate and biscuit malt and lengthy sweet/ toasty finish.This was paired with a castello blue in wholemeal bread roll.



Bonus chocolate beer reviews:
(I rated these earlier in the year and thought you might want to know about them)

Bristol beer factory Chocolate stout (5%): produced for the "12 stouts of Christmas" selection, we were lucky enough to get it on cask at Factoberfest. Pitch black with a chocolate malt nose with spicy rasins with cocoa powder and a hint of peppermint. Very deceptive for its 5% with a chalky dry yet sweet finish.Very much looking forward to this in the bottle!

Southern Tier Choklat (11%): A luxurious thick black beer with nose of oatmeal, chocolate fondant and cocoa powder. Sweet up front with rich chocolate and slightly chalky roast barley. Medium bodied with noticeable but alcohol but it complements the flavours rather than hinders.One for sharing though!