With Valentine's Day just a few days away, it's time to think about romancing your beer-loving sweetheart. Flowers are nice. A box of chocolates will do. But what they really want is beer. A mix-and-match six-pack of chocolate beers — brewed with actual chocolate — is the best way to express your sudsy affection.
Stouts and porters tend to be the favored styles for chocolate beer. The bitter chocolate and coffee flavors of dark roasted grains naturally complement the smooth tones of chocolate. The deep brown and black colors, along with the creamy texture, can make these luxurious brews almost seem like you're drinking melted ganache.
Chocolate stouts offer a range of flavor profiles. Some are dry and roasty with just a touch of bitter, dark chocolate. Others are velvety-rich and sweet with chocolate as the dominant note. Many are of moderate strength, and a few push into the double digits of alcohol percentage.
On the dry and roasty end is the classic example of the style, Young's Double Chocolate Stout. For fans of those bitter, high-cocoa chocolate bars, this English beer is the one. It's light-bodied and very dry, which accentuates the interplay of dark chocolate and coffee-like, black-malt roast. The nitrogen gas widget gives this beer a smooth, creamy mouthfeel that tempers the bitterness.
Another one on the dry and roasty side is Nevermore Chocolate Oatmeal Stout from Rush River Brewing Co. across the St. Croix in River Falls, Wis. At 8% alcohol, it swings to the stronger end, but without additional sweetness. The actual chocolate flavor is lower, with a dry, chocolate-cookie character. The underlying beer is a solid oatmeal stout. Roasted malts bring bitter chocolate and coffee notes without tasting burnt. The mouthfeel is silky-smooth from the addition of oats.
Similar, but with less alcohol is Chocolate Oatmeal Milk Stout from Fulton Beer in Minneapolis. The chocolate starts light but intensifies as the beer warms up. There is a crispness to it like a high-cocoa chocolate bar. The oatmeal brings bready notes and that characteristic creaminess.
Moving a touch toward the sweeter side is another old-school classic from England, Samuel Smith's Organic Chocolate Stout. This one has loads of chocolate, joined by a touch of drying, bitter roast that gives it a chocolate cookie impression similar to Nevermore. Samuel Smith's makes an excellent non-chocolate oatmeal stout. A slight oatiness and smooth mouthfeel suggests there may be some oats in this beer, as well. It finishes fairly dry with some lingering roast.
Lugene Chocolate Milk Stout from Odell Brewing Co. in Fort Collins, Colo., is all about chocolate from the moment you pour it in the glass. Dark chocolate aromas lead the way and carry through into the flavor, lingering long after you swallow. A drizzle of caramel and a faint hint of herbal hops complete the picture. Lugene leans sweet, but a counterpoint of subtle roast bitterness keeps it from being cloying. Drop a scoop of vanilla ice cream in your glass for a delicious chocolate stout float. Try it. You'll like it.
