Beer News - Beer & Chocolate
Willie Simpson, The Age Epicure, 3 April 2007
"FISH and chips, strawberries and cream, tea and scones, beer and chocolate. Did you spot the odd one out?
Well, sure - if we were talking about VB and a family block of dairy milk, then it would be a rather odd coupling, but how about Belgian truffles and Chimay Grand Reserve or a slice of chocolate mud cake with a foaming mug of James Squire Porter or Coopers Stout? Uh-huh - do
I have your attention now?
Because I reckon certain beers - darker, stronger brews, in particular - are a better match with chocolate than just about any wine you care to mention.
The bittersweet flavours of dark chocolate blend effectively with similar notes present in darker brews, especially those with enough richness and alcoholic strength to carry it off. There is even an ingredient called chocolate malt - it has nothing to do with Happy Days-era milkshakes - which brewers use in certain dusky beers. It's basically malted grain that has been roasted to a chocolate-brown colour, without reaching the burnt stage of roasted malt. Such "coloured malts" add darker colours and roasty flavour notes to beers (in fact, there is something enticingly named "chocolate chit" malt - an even sweeter, more chocolate-like variety - that Epicure readers might recall I used last year when I was let loose in the Mildura Brewery to create my Old Willie Warmer guest brew).
But the proof of the pudding, as always, is in the eating, and the suitability of the match is proven beyond reasonable doubt by a brew that complements the dessert, without being overwhelmed by sweet flavours. At a memorable hop-harvest celebration dinner held last month at Cascade Brewery's museum in Hobart, I enjoyed a dark chocolate and almond fudge cake, washed down with Cascade Stout. The latter is what I'd call a medium dry stout, without the robust hop bitterness of some other stouts but with enough potency (5.8 per cent alcohol) to cope with the rich pudding.
Another Tasmanian brew crying out for a heavenly chocolate marriage was the limited-edition Boag's Leatherwood Honey Porter, which neatly juggled intense roasty and sweet flavours with the perfumed muskiness of the sublime leatherwood honey. At a different beer dinner, it was stylishly matched with an Ibara chocolate and chestnut pudding, featuring panna cotta flavoured with honey and porter treacle.
Anyone who has visited Belgium would have to be a complete gastronomic philistine not to appreciate that beer and chocolate are two of this tiny country's outstanding attractions. The Belgians specialise in dark chocolate with a relatively high cocoa content, while their beers come in a staggering array of styles and potent strengths. Strong, complex ales such as Piraat and Gouden Carolus - to name a couple - even taste a bit like a dessert-in-a-bottle but can just as readily partner some chocolate-laced confection.
And it is great to see other people are thinking along similar lines, with one city bottleshop (Vintage Cellars in King Street) recently running a Valentine's Day-themed Belgian beer and chocolate tasting. The chocolates were provided by Koko Black and the brews included Chimay, Orval, Grimbergen, Leffe, Rochford, Hoegaarden Forbidden Fruit and Grand Cru, Duvel, Bellevue Kriek and Bellevue Framboise.
Speaking of the latter pair, if dark beer really isn't your thing, try matching a chocolate and berry dessert with a Belgian fruit lambic beer. At the Belgian Beer Cafe Bluestone in St Kilda Road, I once drank the raspberry-infused Bellevue Framboise, paired with a chocolate mousse served with double cream and berry coulis. Fruity and tart, the beer cleansed the palate while complementing the coulis and the understated chocolate flavours of the fluffy mousse.
Given that most blokes would probably choose beer over chocolate (and women would go in the opposite direction), a basketful of high-class chocolates and equally wicked Belgian ales might be just the ticket for couples to indulge in this Easter. "
"FISH and chips, strawberries and cream, tea and scones, beer and chocolate. Did you spot the odd one out?
Well, sure - if we were talking about VB and a family block of dairy milk, then it would be a rather odd coupling, but how about Belgian truffles and Chimay Grand Reserve or a slice of chocolate mud cake with a foaming mug of James Squire Porter or Coopers Stout? Uh-huh - do
I have your attention now?
Because I reckon certain beers - darker, stronger brews, in particular - are a better match with chocolate than just about any wine you care to mention.
The bittersweet flavours of dark chocolate blend effectively with similar notes present in darker brews, especially those with enough richness and alcoholic strength to carry it off. There is even an ingredient called chocolate malt - it has nothing to do with Happy Days-era milkshakes - which brewers use in certain dusky beers. It's basically malted grain that has been roasted to a chocolate-brown colour, without reaching the burnt stage of roasted malt. Such "coloured malts" add darker colours and roasty flavour notes to beers (in fact, there is something enticingly named "chocolate chit" malt - an even sweeter, more chocolate-like variety - that Epicure readers might recall I used last year when I was let loose in the Mildura Brewery to create my Old Willie Warmer guest brew).
But the proof of the pudding, as always, is in the eating, and the suitability of the match is proven beyond reasonable doubt by a brew that complements the dessert, without being overwhelmed by sweet flavours. At a memorable hop-harvest celebration dinner held last month at Cascade Brewery's museum in Hobart, I enjoyed a dark chocolate and almond fudge cake, washed down with Cascade Stout. The latter is what I'd call a medium dry stout, without the robust hop bitterness of some other stouts but with enough potency (5.8 per cent alcohol) to cope with the rich pudding.
Another Tasmanian brew crying out for a heavenly chocolate marriage was the limited-edition Boag's Leatherwood Honey Porter, which neatly juggled intense roasty and sweet flavours with the perfumed muskiness of the sublime leatherwood honey. At a different beer dinner, it was stylishly matched with an Ibara chocolate and chestnut pudding, featuring panna cotta flavoured with honey and porter treacle.
Anyone who has visited Belgium would have to be a complete gastronomic philistine not to appreciate that beer and chocolate are two of this tiny country's outstanding attractions. The Belgians specialise in dark chocolate with a relatively high cocoa content, while their beers come in a staggering array of styles and potent strengths. Strong, complex ales such as Piraat and Gouden Carolus - to name a couple - even taste a bit like a dessert-in-a-bottle but can just as readily partner some chocolate-laced confection.
And it is great to see other people are thinking along similar lines, with one city bottleshop (Vintage Cellars in King Street) recently running a Valentine's Day-themed Belgian beer and chocolate tasting. The chocolates were provided by Koko Black and the brews included Chimay, Orval, Grimbergen, Leffe, Rochford, Hoegaarden Forbidden Fruit and Grand Cru, Duvel, Bellevue Kriek and Bellevue Framboise.
Speaking of the latter pair, if dark beer really isn't your thing, try matching a chocolate and berry dessert with a Belgian fruit lambic beer. At the Belgian Beer Cafe Bluestone in St Kilda Road, I once drank the raspberry-infused Bellevue Framboise, paired with a chocolate mousse served with double cream and berry coulis. Fruity and tart, the beer cleansed the palate while complementing the coulis and the understated chocolate flavours of the fluffy mousse.
Given that most blokes would probably choose beer over chocolate (and women would go in the opposite direction), a basketful of high-class chocolates and equally wicked Belgian ales might be just the ticket for couples to indulge in this Easter. "
Labels: Beer News
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