Pairing Chocolate and Beer
From Milk Stouts to Dark Roasts: A Guide to Pairing Chocolate with Different Beer Styles
Fine Wine? Fine Beer!
Pairing chocolate with beer may sound like quite an unusual idea. However, while chocolate and wine pairings are certainly more common, beer and chocolate go just as well together. Just like pairing chocolate & wine, they also complement one another by highlighting the flavors and tasting notes.
From the sweetness to the bitter notes, chocolate has a wide range of tasting notes to match the many different beer styles. Plus, both beer and chocolate have been around for thousands of years. Discovered over 3,000 years ago, chocolate traversed the globe, where it was mainly enjoyed as a beverage until the invention of solid chocolate in 1847 by Joseph Fry and Sons. The first evidence of the chemical process of beer making is estimated at 5,500 years ago and it has continued to evolve through the ages. These days, you’ll even find chocolate-flavored beer, but that’s a whole other story.
Below we explore pairing different beer styles with chocolate to create exceptional taste sensations. We’ll help you understand the complexities of chocolate’s characteristics so that you can pair different beers with flavor notes that complement them.
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Various types of chocolate have different notes that complement a range of tastes and textures. These are the most common:
Sweetness: Sweet notes pair well with roasted or bitter flavors, complementing the bitterness in a beer.
Cocoa Concentrate: The higher the chocolate’s cocoa content, the better pairing with a bold and intense beer.
Creamy Texture: Milk chocolate has a creaminess that creates a luxurious mouthfeel when paired with the right beer.
Roasted Notes: Some chocolates have a roasted flavor profile, which can highlight roasted flavors in certain beers.
Spiced: Chocolates with spices can bring out the subtle spiced flavors in certain beers.
Saltiness: Adding salt can accentuate the perceived sweetness of the chocolate and beer.
Knowing the flavor profile of your chocolate and beer can help you make the perfect pairing. When paired well, chocolate can enhance the taste of a beer and take it up a notch.
Discover various styles of beer below and our top-suggested chocolates to pair with each style!
Stout
Stouts pair very well with a darker, more intense chocolate with a berry note. The dark chocolate will blend with the stout while accentuating the berry note in the chocolate. A cherry or raspberry-infused chocolate would be the perfect match.
Imperial Stouts, which are stronger, pair well with chocolate that contains nuts, as the toasted flavor of the nuts stands up to the intensity of the beer.
We found the strongest Stout & Chocolate pairing to come from a fruit-infused dark chocolate. The best option we paired was from Lake Champlain Chocolates in Burlington, Vermont. The chocolate was the Lake Champlain Chocolates® 57% Dark Chocolate Bar with Raspberries and the combined flavor is exactly what a perfect pairing should entail.
Similar to a traditional stout, an oatmeal stout is made through a similar process with oats added to the mash during the brewing process. The oats yield a silkier texture & malty sweetness to the brew. A semisweet dark chocolate, such as Côte d’Or 56% Dark Chocolate Connoisseur Bar, pairs well with this brew as the chocolate’s lighter sweetness compliments the beer’s sugars and brings out the roasted flavor, as does oat-milk chocolate bars.
Porter
Porters have a dark color with an intense flavor. They can sometimes be creamy in mouthfeel, which lends itself well to milk chocolate. This style of beer also pairs well with dark chocolate. The dark intensity of the chocolate marries well with the rich flavor of the porter.
We found Porters to pair best with a lighter/semisweet dark chocolate or a dark-milk chocolate. Our top recommendations include SMET Small Dark Chocolate Mocha Beans and the Lake Champlain Chocolates® 43% Dark-Milk Chocolate Bar with Almonds & Sea Salt.
We had paired a Porter with a nut-infused dark chocolate, but the flavors did not pair well together and we came to find the nuttiness was not a problem, but a bitter dark chocolate constrasts the porter taste in a negative way. The coffee-infusion was a great combination and also a top recommendation!
American Wheat/Hefeweizen
Hefeweizens are spicier beers that are light in color and have fruity notes similar to an IPA. Typical flavors include banana, clove (spiciness), and vanilla. This beer traditionally has a higher carbonation than other lighter-colored beers.
A great pairing for this beer would be a medium chocolate with spicy notes like chili or cinnamon which you can find in the Nirvana Spicy Aztec 72% Dark Chocolate Bar.
American Pale Ale & India Pale Ale (IPA, DIPA, TIPA)
Pale Ales and India Pale Ales have floral, citrus-like, piney, fruity notes with a slight bitterness. These characteristics and flavor profiles pair well with milky or white chocolate.
The addition of berries or orange complements the profile of the beer, lifting the citrus and floral notes. Avoid dark chocolate, as it will overpower the flavor of the beer and become quite unpleasant.
The Omnom Chocolate Madagascar 45% Milk Chocolate Bar has notes of citrus and berry which matches the flavor profile perfectly. The Keller + Manni Ecuador Extravirgin Milk Chocolate Bar with Winter Spice has the spicey-piney flavor, along with notes of citrus that also complement the Pale Ale.
Pilsner
A dry, crisp beer with a light malty flavor and a slight bitter finish, a Pilsner pairs well with malted milk chocolate with nuts. The chocolate’s maltiness enhances the beer’s malt flavor, while the sweetness eases the bitter finish.
The addition of nuts with the malt makes for an exceptional tasting experience, with the flavors interplaying.
We recommend pairing a pilsner with the Dolfin Mini 37% Milk Chocolate with Nougat, Honey & Diamond Salt from Cashmere. The sweet & salty contrast of the Dolfin chocolate paired perfectly alongside the Pilsner. Pairing the pair against a lighter-dark chocolate with orange is also a top recommendation, and a strong option is the MIA Madagascar 65% Dark Chocolate Bar with Candied Orange.
Lager
Lagers are fermented with bottom fermenting lager yeast and ferments at a slower pace. They are known for a clean finish and typically have a crisp, clean and refreshing taste with a smooth & mellow flavor. Lagers ten to have a golden-yellow color, more carbonation than ales and a lower ABV.
While the brewing process is very similar, what separates the American Lager from its European counterparts is the local barley, which contains a higher count of tannic acid and protein.
We tend to prefer a darker-milk chocolate or a white chocolate to pair with the Lager. The Valrhona Jivara 40% milk is a perfect compliment to lagers as this chocolate has a minimal amount of barley malt infused into its composition. Our favorite white chocolate – Lager pairing is Fjåk Öko-Caribe Dominican Republic 36% White Chocolate Bar with Cocoa Nibs.
Sour/Lambic
A category of beer growing in popularity in America, the Sour Beer is becoming a staple in the microbrewery scene. It is a favorite with those who enjoy premium quality beer with a difference; this traditional sour beer has a thicker mouthfeel and mild carbonation, not to mention the obvious sour taste.
Pairing a fruity sour or lambic with a bar of caramelized white chocolate, will lift the beer’s tartness, giving it an explosion of flavor. Pairing this with a sour chocolate actually lightens the overall sour flavors – our favorite pairing is with the Fjåk Limited Edition Black Forest Cherry Cake 50% Milk Chocolate Bar.
Amber/Red Ale
The two main variations are American and Irish, with both being types of pale ales, they are brewed with roasted barley and kilned malts to give it the signature redish hue. Red Ales have a malty sweetness and mellow hop flavor which can pair well with a roasty-cocoa finish chocolate.
A lighter dark or dark-milk chocolate pairs well with this brew, as does a caramel or honey-infused semisweet dark chocolate. Our favorites were the Hogarth Guayaquil Ecuador 70% Dark Chocolate Bar with Manuka Honey & Cacao Nibs and the Taste Artisan Chocolate Blue Canyon Farm 58% Dark-Milk Chocolate with Honey Lavender Buds.
Kolsch/Blonde Ale
Kolsch and Blonde Ales are considered to be hybrid Pale Ales, with the Kolsch more creamy and subtle, the Blonde has more of a crisp & dry finish, with low to medium bitterness. The Kolsch is typically brewed with pale malt for almost a cracker & bread aroma, and both use either ale yeast or lager yeast, followed by a cold crash.
Citrus-infused chocolates pair best with this brew to enhance the natural aromas present. The Dolfin 60% Dark Chocolate Bar with Lemon & Ginger, Crow & Moss 38% Oat Mylk Bar with Apple & Honey Oat Crumble, and Droste 35% Milk Chocolate with Orange Crisp Pastilles Roll fit this profile best to enhance each citrus’ flavor.
Bock
A Bock Beer is a lager beer, made with high amounts of malt and roasted barley. This reults in the sweet and chocolate-like flavor, and generally higher alcohol content, in comparison to other lagers.
The best pairing options, due to a Bock already having a chocolate flavor profile, is to double down on the flavors with darker and malty chocolate. A light peanut butter inclusion also blends well with the a Bock. For these reasons we recommend the Amedei Toscano Black 70% Dark Chocolate Bar, and the Lake Champlain Chocolates® 57% Dark Chocolate Bar with Peanut Butter Filling.
Brown Ale
A Brown Ale can range in color from deep amber to brown, and is brewed with a higher concentration of brown malts with fewer hops. This creates a more drinkable & milder ale – and sometimes they can be brewed with caramelized sugar for a sweeter finished beer.
This brew pairs well with a milk chocolate with nutty infusions (such as the Domori Nocciola Milk Chocolate Bar with Whole & Roasted Hazelnuts, or the Dick Taylor 55% Milk Chocolate Bar with Hazelnut), or with a semisweet lighter dark (under 70%) chocolate with a caramel infusion (such as the Chocolove 55% Dark Chocolate Bar with Salted Caramel Filling, or the Lake Champlain Chocolates® 57% Dark Chocolate Bar with Bourbon Caramel Filling).