Chocolate and beer: a match made in heavenThree delicious recipes for chocolate with beer

Chocolate and beer? A match made in heaven — as long as you find the right pairings. In this blog post, I’ll give you a few tips on how to combine beer and chocolate and I’ll share delicious recipes with white, milk and dark chocolate as the main ingredients. Happy Easter - I hope you have a sweet tooth!

Chocolate consists of cocoa powder, cocoa butter and sugar — dark chocolate, that is. The addition of milk powder creates milk chocolate. White chocolate, on the other hand, is a mix of cocoa butter, sugar and milk powder (no cocoa powder). White is the sweetest type of chocolate, milk is full and creamy, and dark ranges from slightly bitter to very bitter with 85% cacao. These differences in flavour intensity are important when it comes to choosing beers. You should also take into account any extra ingredients added, such as nuts and fruit.

It’s not as simple as saying that white chocolate and light-coloured beers always go together and that dark chocolate should be paired with darker beers. It’s always a case of trial and error. First of all, you should decide whether to use the beer or the chocolate as the starting point. Then identify the dominant flavours and find a suitable partner. We’re going to use the flavours in the chocolate as the starting point.

Chocolate and beer

White chocolate is sweet and creamy, so by pairing with highly carbonated beers you can cut through. Next to that, a slightly fruity sour beer will temper some of the sweetness in the chocolate - just try it with a fresh, fruity and slightly sour white beer or a fruit beer.

Sweet blonde beers are not a great match for white chocolate as they will only intensify the sweetness. On the other hand, beers with coffee notes are surprisingly tasty combined with white chocolate.

Milk chocolate is creamy like white chocolate, but not as sweet. However, you should still generally avoid pairing it with sweet beers. The combination is likely to be cloying. Choose a crisp, fruity or even slightly hoppy beer to minimise the sweetness. Beers with coffee or cocoa notes are also great with milk chocolate. However, stronger beers with toasted or roasted flavours are better paired with dark chocolate.

Matching temperatures

It's not just the dominant flavours that are important to consider when pairing beer and chocolate: you also have to pay attention to the temperature of the beer and the chocolate, as this affects the overall flavour experience.

My tip is: be sure serve the chocolate at room temperature. For the optimal flavour experience, first take a sip of the beer, then take a bite out of the chocolate and let it melt in your mouth. Finally, take another sip of beer and sit back to enjoy the delicious combination of beer and chocolate.

Beer and chocolate recipes

Looking for a fun Easter activity for the adults? Get creative in the kitchen with these mouth-watering recipes for beer and chocolate pairings!

White chocolate lemon fudge with brittle

This creamy, sweet white chocolate lemon fudge with brittle is easy to make and melts in your mouth. It’s soft but crunchy, due to the brittle, and has a dominant fresh and sour lemon flavour. The fudge goes great with a fresh, fruity and slightly sour wit beer such as Blanche De Namur 4.5%.

You'll be surprised at how well Porters pair with white chocolate - it's truly a delicious mix. Try the fudge alongside Magic Rock Common Grounds 5.4% and taste this explosion of flavours, reminiscent of a cappuccino with a dash of caramel.

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Chocolate kisses

Crunchy, airy and coated in a generous layer of creamy milk chocolate: there’s nothing better than homemade chocolate kisses. Not only are they delicious, but they also look pretty and are very easy to make. You do need a certain measure of patience, however.

If you try these chocolate kisses with a crisp, fresh and fruity beer such as Magic Rock's High Wire Grapefruit, the sweetness in the kisses will be reduced somewhat. This combination also helps the fruitiness in the beer to shine through better.

> get the recipe

Dark chocolate muffins with blueberries

These intense dark chocolate muffins have a nice chocolatey bitterness and a fruity, sour flavour thanks to the generous portion of blueberries. To make these muffins as delicious and beautiful as possible, we recommend you use high quality chocolate and sturdy muffin cases.

These muffins are chock-full of chocolate and go great with beers that have roasted flavours and notes of coffee and chocolate, such as Beavertown Spresso. When this muffin is combined with intense beers, the chocolate takes centre stage and harmonises beautifully with the lovely, long aftertaste.

> get the recipe

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