In the opening post of this series I mentioned that there are three categories of beer that pair well with chocolates.

The third group of beers include pale, bitter beers, such as India Pale Ales.  These also tend to do well when paired with chocolate…

India Pale Ale was created in the 1820’s for the voyages between England and India.  The three month voyage would have to cross the equator twice.  So not only was the journey long, but it was also quite warm.  Since time and high temperatures are bad for beer preservation, typical beers sent to India arrived in very poor condition.
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In the opening post of this series I mentioned that there are three categories of beer that pair well with chocolates.

A second group of beers are the Belgian-style ales... 

These beers are typically amber to brown in color, with high alcohol content (often greater than 8%) and are usually quite fruity in their aroma.  Candy sugar (like a hard rock candy) may be added to the barley malt to increase the alcohol level without darkening the color or making it too malty.
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In the opening post of this series I mentioned that there are three categories of beer that pair well with chocolates.

The first group for pairing includes dark beers such as porters and stouts...

These beers are made using a good deal of roasted or burnt barley malt.  In fact, one of the burnt barley malts is even called “chocolate malt.”  It doesn't really have any chocolate in it, but rather the malt has been roasted or kilned until it acquires more of a chocolaty color.
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When most people think about pairing chocolate with an alcoholic beverage the product they usually consider is wine.  However, there are components in wine which can make these pairings difficult and often unpredictable.

Tannins in red wine can make dark chocolates seem more bitter, and the acidity in wines often does not  balance well with the chocolate.  Because of the variation in wine styles, even within varietals, it’s often difficult to generalize about ideal wine and chocolate pairings.

This is not the case for beer!
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