Beer Pairing with....

RocketMan

RocketMan

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Here's what happened. My mom, sister and sister in law went on a cruise to Alaska. They boarded ship in Seattle and spent a day there shopping and such. My mom knows i like Beer and chocolate and found these bars as part of a Beer pairing kit. So, instead of getting the kit she picked up the bars so I could pair them myself. 
 
Now I have an idea about what I think they'll go with but I'm also wondering what others would pair them with. So post up, what do you think they would pair with. I'll let you know what I did after I do it.
 
Have fun
 
Dark beer like a porter or a stout.  That coffee one would go great with some nitro milk stout from left hand brewing.  The curry one is a bit tougher to pair with.  Maybe a porter or a Hefeweizen.
 
Coconut Curry with Singha.
 
Coffee Dark Chocolate...it's probably bitter since it's 70% and coffee... sweet as well... try something crisp and fresh to complement and enhance those flavors, with just a tad of bitterness to match, thinking kölsch style.
 
Oatmeal Stout or a Chocolate Porter. Several New England breweries make em such as McNeil's or Wolaver's, both out of good ol' VT.
 
So we did the first beer pairing last night and it was a really good combination. I did a little research first about beer pairing and according to what I found when you pair you want to EITHER, have a brew that compliments the food item or is a contrast to it so that you are filling out the pallet. In other words if the food item is sweet and bitter then you would want a sour or floral beer. The preferred way to do a beer pairing taste test is to eat, drink, drink, eat. So we took a bite of the chocolate which was very rich with the taste of the Espresso beans and the dark chocolate was very smooth and bitter. The first pairing was to Southern Tier's Creme Brulee Stout. This is a bitter and sweet beer that I thought would be a good complement to the chocolate and it really was. The first bite of chocolate was completely changed when a sip of the beer was taken. The strong bitter coffee flavor was greatly mellowed by the sweet/bitter of the beer and then when reversed and a sip of beer is taken followed by the chocolate the Creme Brulee flavors take on the Espresso bean for a really fantastic finish. We really enjoyed this combination. Tomorrow night will be a beer that I think will contrast but might also complement the espresso chocolate in a way. Pics will be posted tomorrow night.
 
That sounds like it would have been pretty good. The bitter chocolate with the sweetness of the creme brulee was probably a good pairing.
 
Maybe something even less as sweet, but sweet still, like a milk stout or something along the lines of some roasty and sweet. I bet that would be good as well.
 
This is a good thread topic.
 
Tonight we did the contrast but it was really a complement and contrast. Innis & Gunn Rum Aged and it was AWESOME!! Even better than the Creme Brulee. The hints of Rum in the background complemented the Coffee and Chocolate while the Beer itself really filled out the flavors on the tongue in the chocolate to beer tasting. Tasting Beer to chocolate tended to take away the Coffee flavors and just leave you with a really great dark chocolate flavor.I really recommend trying this for yourself to see how great chocolate and beer can bee. I can hardly wait to try the Coconut Curry Chocolate pairings. Here's a pic...
 
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Enjoy
 
Tonight was the first pairing for the Coconut Curry Chocolate.  This is a milk chocolate and when I opened it we were amazed at the curry smell. it really set a high bar for our expectation of this chocolate and we were not disappointed. The coconut was more a texture than a flavor in this bar but the Curry Chocolate was off the scale!
 
Tonight's pairing was aiming at a contrasting flavor but I'm not so sure that it might not have been a complimentary. Tonight we paired the chocolate with a Stone Brewing IPA and it was FANTASTIC!! i honestly never would have thought to have matched a chocolate with an IPA. I mean come on it's an IPA, what part of that spells give me chocolate? Add in the Curry flavors though and your going to be like DAMMMMMMMMN, give me more!!
 
Ok, so going Chocolate to beer the beer totally mellowed the Curry flavors and brought the milk chocolate to the front. The curry still had a background hint that goes really well with the hoppiness of the IPA.. Going Beer to Chocolate the amazing sweet notes of the curry is really highlighted by the Hoppiness of the beer, I was amazed at what happened when I bit into the chocolate. The combination of the milk chocolate and the curry with the sweet notes highlighted was off the charts good. 
 
Overall, buy this chocolate and a good IPA and give this combination a try. It's crazy good. 
 
So tonight was pairing the Coconut Curry Chocolate with an Imperial Stout by Yeti Brewing. Keeping with the Chocolate, Beer, Beer, Chocolate. The Chocolate continues to amaze me just on it's own, it's killer. The beer after the chocolate killed all sweetness and left us with a really bitter taste. There were no notes of the Curry or anything. Then Beer to Chocolate kind of killed all the flavor in our mouth. It was like the beer and chocolate just canceled each other out. The really good combination with this beer was when you had a piece of chocolate in your mouth and took a sip of the beer so you had both at the same time. Then the sweet notes of the curry and chocolate really came out to shine.
 
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So which ones were out favorites? There were 3 of us taking part in the tasting. My mom, my daughter and I.
 
For RocketMom it was the combination of the Coconut Curry and the Stone IPA in the Chcoclate to Beer way. The beer to her really enhanced the flavor of the chocolate without taking away from the Curry and she still had the nice bite in there. Oh, and she found out she really like IPAs :)
 
For me, while I have to agree with mom that the the IPA and the Coconut Curry was an extreme and really AWESOME combination but my favorite was the Coffee Dark Chocolate with the Innus and Gunn Rum Cask in the Chocolate to Beer way. I really loved how the Hints of Rum added to the coffee and dark chocolate and I just love dark chocolate.
 
For my daughter who just turned 21, God I feel Old :) she really enjoyed the combination tonight in the beer to chocolate way. She really enjoyed how the chocolate and curry flavors enhanced the chocolate malts in the Stout giving the beer a sweeter flavor. 
 
For all of us this has been a truly enjoyable and enlightening experience. I want to say thanks mom for bringing home the chocolates for us to do this with. It will be done again. 
 
So the next time your in your favorite Beer store and you spot that bar of chocolate sitting on the counter, grab one and go find a couple of beers to try with it. Then post your enjoyment of it here. I can't wait to see what you come up with.
 
PROST!!
 
Scarlet Fire said:
Oatmeal Stout or a Chocolate Porter. Several New England breweries make em such as McNeil's or Wolaver's, both out of good ol' VT.
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I'll drink to that!

It's a shame that Ray is on deaths doorstep. I shudder to think what will happen to his brewery when he's gone.
 
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