Chocolatier Mary Leonard, owner of Chocolat Celeste in St. Paul, could be onto something with the “Beer and BonBons” event she hosted a few weeks ago at her store. It showed—to the delight of beer aficionados, chocolate connoisseurs, Leonard herself, and Summit Brewing, which co-hosted the tasting—that there’s productive cross-marketing to be done when it comes to pairing beer and chocolate.
The idea “has a little bit of a blog following” says Chocolat Celeste’s Laura Fogelberg, who organized the tasting. But while beer geeks have been putting these flavors together for years, a wider public is just catching on. Pubs like St. Paul’s Happy Gnome, which will have a beer and chocolate pairing on its Valentine’s menu, are accommodating them.
Fogelberg turned to her own beer geek for guidance in making the pairings shown here: Jim Ellingson, a longtime columnist for Great Lakes Brewing News, a 3M and Boston Scientific alumnus, and now a University of St. Thomas engineering professor.
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Summit Great Northern Porter + Cinnamon Chili Bonbon Dark beers such as porters and stouts are made with caramelized barley and toasted malts. They’ll work with any intense, dark chocolate. “You get the roundness of the chocolate cut a little bit by the roastiness,” Ellingson says, “the same way a nice cup of coffee goes really well with dessert.” |
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Horizon Red Ale + Orange Blossom Bonbon The hop varieties in Horizon tend to be citrusy, and it shares some of the fruity elements of a Belgian-style beer. Like pairs with like in this case: Chocolates or desserts with a citrus note will resonate. |
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Summit Winter Ale + Salted Caramel Bonbon Higher in alcohol content than most beer, a winter ale pairs best with chocolate that has the spice or warmth to stand up to it. Summit’s Winter “nudges the balance a little bit toward the malt and maybe backs away a little from the roast and the hop,” Ellingson says. That makes the buttery, caramely notes in some chocolates a good match. |
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