Lake Champlain Chocolates Blog

File this under just another kooky thing we get to do here sometimes. OK. Friday was a company holiday for us (Thank you Jim!!) so Thursday was effectively Friday. Excellent. On my way out the door, Gary – our Retail Sales Director – asked if I had a second to help with something he was working on. Sure, I wanted to begin my three-day weekend and all but listen, he had a tray of chocolate and some beer in his hand. My curiosity was piqued.

So, we headed back to the break room where we often do some of our product tastings internally. There were a couple other people there already waiting to assist in this project. Apparently, Gary was looking for tasters and flavor panel people to help him with beer and chocolate pairings. Yup, you read correctly. Beer and chocolate. Move over wine, there’s a new player at the table looking to shack up with chocolate. My curiosity was now beyond piqued. I was totally bought in but a little scared as to how this was going to work.

Well, I shouldn’t tell you what brand of beer we were working with (Wolaver’s and Otter Creek this time around) or the exact flavors as it’s still a “work in progress” but I can tell you I was totally and pleasantly surprised. I never would have put beer and chocolate together in a million years but there were some really tasty pairings. Sure, you can put a chocolate-covered salty nut with nearly any beer but we didn’t stop there. We went to truffles, we went to chocolate-covered fruit. We even went to spicy chocolate. And it was wonderful.

Where are we going with this? That I don’t know just yet but Gary just stopped by my desk to ask for more assistance with the beer and chocolate. Am I in? You bet I’m in. Next time you’re sitting around with some chocolate on your coffee table and some beer in your fridge, why not give it a go?! What’s the worst that can happen?

OK, OK, you already know about chocolate. You know what you like. You know what you don't like. But there's always room to learn more, isn't there? Well, I have the perfect opportunities for you to expand your knowledge and treat your tastebuds and guess what – they’re totally free. Yup, free.

Lake Champlain Chocolates will be hosting two Chocolate Tastings in June -  one in Stowe, VT as part of the Vermont Culinary Classic and one at our Waterbury, VT location.

Let me begin with the first one in Stowe. This event will take place Monday, June 16 at the Stowe Free Library beginning at 7:00 and will take folks on a journey from the cocoa tree to the chocolate bar - how cocoa beans grow, how they’re harvested, how they’re processed and how they become this wonderful treat we all crave. Afterwards, attendees will be treated to a flight of chocolate ranging in cocoa contents and learn the intimate details of each chocolate's profile. Imaging a wine tasting but with chocolate. Mmmm.

The second tasting event in June takes place Saturday, June 21 from noon until 4pm at our retail location on Route 100 in Waterbury, VT where visitors will be treated to a sampling of chocolates including our Milk Chocolate, Milk Chocolate Triple Nut, Sao Thome 70% dark and our Tanzania 75% dark. While sampling, our staff will be on hand to answer questions about how our chocolates are made, what do these cocoa content percentages mean and any other chocolate question you might have. Sure, we don't have all the answers but honestly, who does?! 

So, consider this your official invite to either or both of these events. It's fun, it's educational, it's tasty, it's free and it's all ages. Phew! What more could you want?