Earlier I wrote about our in-house chocolate and beer pairings done in preparation for the Brewers Fest held last weekend in Burlington. In the end, five beers were paired with five chocolates and presented in a SRO tasting session at the Vermont Brewers Festival.  Each combination was specifically designed to bring out the best features of each and tasters were asked to first sample the chocolate and then follow with the beer. Since I know all of you are extremely curious to know what went with what, I will feature each different pairing in upcoming blogs. Armed with this info, perhaps you can host your own chocolate and beer pairing, maybe even find some new combinations.

Pairing #1 –
Vermont Pub & Brewery’s Forbidden Fruit (6.0% ABV) and our Dark Chocolate Honey Caramel (54% cocoa content)

VPB’s Forbidden Fruit features an incredible raspberry flavor in its profile. So incredible, in fact, you’d expect to find raspberry seeds. It’s a great combination of bitter, tangy and sweet which pairs perfectly with the Honey Caramel in 54% dark chocolate.

The sweetness of the Honey Caramel plays off the bitterness of the beer, setting up the tanginess of the raspberries to an even higher level of flavor. Once the beer is gone, the aftertaste you’re left with is a light combination of bitter from both the beer and the dark chocolate as well as the clean flavor of the chocolate itself. Some describe elements of our dark chocolate as having a “Baked brownie” taste (you know, the parts of the brownie around the edge of the pan that are well done) and that flavor is very apparent at the finish of this pairing. Truly delicious.