Chocolate Beer

What better way to live life than to combine two things so great in nature? Chocolate and beer.

Technically speaking, most “chocolate” beers do not actually have chocolate in them per se. What gives the beer that chocolately flavor is when the beer is brewed from a darker, more aromatic malt, commonly called chocolate malt. And no, this is not the stuff that is in your Ovaltine or dispensed from a soda jerk. They do come from the same basic source, cereal grains, but chocolate malt is from grains that are soaked and then roasted, while malted milk (which is in your Ovaltine) is a mixture of evaporated malted barley, wheat flour and whole milk.

Now that you’re educated on chocolate beers, let’s get down to some actual chocolate beer. Either real chocolate was somehow incorporated into the recipe, chocolate malt was used or some sort of witchcraft.

Newly released this month from the Dogfish Head Brewery is Theobrama, a brew based on an Central American recipe, consumed by the Aztecs. This one actually includes cocoa nibs and powder and is one of several beers attempting to re-create other ancient recipes as well from around the world.

Beer is the world’s oldest known recipe after all.

Next up is a very tasty classic: Young’s Double Chocolate Stout. This recipe claims to actually include real dark chocolate, brewed in Bedford, England. Drink it from a can, drink it from a bottle, just drink it. You can find this one as a regular in any grocery store.

Rogue Brewery or Ales is a Pacific Northwest favorite and spreading fast nationwide. If you haven’t seen them yet at your grocery store, check out your local beer market. They’ll have one of the best chocolate stouts around: Rogue’s Chocolate Stout or as it’s known in Japan: Rogue’s Chocolate Bear Sweet. (They really love it there, with a cute teddy bear on the bottle and all.) This one uses both chocolate malts and real chocolate to get their lip smacking chocolately flavors.

And last, but not least, is the Deschutes Brewery’s special release: The Abyss. Released only once a year this Russian Imperial Stout gets straight A’s in taste. Described as having chocolate, molasses, coffee and even licorice hints the “mysterious” recipe is aged in French oak, pinot noir and bourbon barrels but no word other than that cherry bark and vanilla are added to the dry hopping process on how this creation is made. Solve the mystery for yourself this November for the 2008 release.

So what do you do if you can’t find any other these wonders? Try an Imperial Porter. They have the most decadent chocolate-lover friendly flavor.