Chocolate and Beer Pairing – Belgian Ales
July 25, 2010
In the opening post of this series I mentioned that there are three categories of beer that pair well with chocolates.
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.
The beer style is flavorful, yet smooth. The yeast used in these Belgian-style ales has a lot of underlying fruit tones, especially among the Trappist-style dubbels (doubles). As a result you might notice caramel, layers of banana, apple, apricot and peach, with cinnamon, nutmeg, or clove spices.
Fruit-flavored Belgian Lambic beers pair well with 60%+ cacao dark chocolate. The tartness of these fruity beers pairs nicely with the not-too-bitter dark chocolate. For an extra wow factor, combine any berry-flavored truffle or chocolate bar with dried berries and amber ale.
Amber ales are made from barley malt that, in some cases, is called “caramel malt.” This malt doesn’t really taste like caramel, but it does have an inherent sweetness and can give a nutty flavor.
This post is the third of four posts. Here are links to the introduction, and other related posts:
- Chocolate and Beer Pairing - Introduction
- Chocolate and Beer Pairing - Stouts
- Chocolate and Beer Pairing - Pale Ales
- Chocolate and Beer Pairing – Pale Ales - August 1, 2010
- Chocolate and Beer Pairing – Belgian Ales - July 25, 2010
- Chocolate and Beer Pairing – Stouts - July 9, 2010