Chocolate and Beer – A Love Story

With Valentine’s Day fast approaching, you may feel overwhelmed by red and white decorations, flower ads, and expectations of how you should demonstrate your love. It can be hard to navigate through the landscape of pink hearts and fluffy bears, but here at Beerploma we’ve done the hard work for you. This year we’re helping you break out of the box of chocolates! Instead, check out an underrated pairing – chocolate and beer! Wine and chocolate are out for 2014, but beer and chocolate? Now that’s a love story! Along with my husband, I’ve crossed the Twin Cities for samplings from local chocolate shops and great liquor stores to bring you some pairings you’ll want to try yourself. We invited a couple friends along for a tasting and I’m sure we’ll inspire you to track down some special treats for your love as well!

We started the night out with a Berlin Style Weisse from local Joseph Wolf Brewing, Co. and champagne truffles from Candyland in Stillwater, MN. While we were familiar with some of the local breweries in the area, we weren’t as sure where to find a great craft beer in the local liquor stores. Doing a little research we found Stillwater Liquor. I was intrigued by what I saw on their website – locally owned, operated, and giving to charity? All great things I could support. Although the craft beer selection was a little small, the customer service was great and they seemed eager to grow in the craft beer area. We selected the sour wheat ale by the Stillwater brewery and headed over to Candyland in downtown Stillwater. With their homemade truffles, fresh popcorn, and old fashioned candies, this shop (with 3 Twin Cities locations) is a favorite of many locals and for good reason.

 

If you’re looking for a pairing to match closely to traditional bubbly, this is the pairing for you. The sour wheat ale brings to mind the effervescence of champagne as it tickles the back of your throat. The brewery is currently being operated by the great granddaughters of original proprietor Joseph Wolf in collaboration with Dubrue of Duluth, MN.  The label states that they are working on a series of artisanal beers and I for one can’t wait to see what else they have to bring to the table. The beer brought out the sweetness of the champagne in the chocolate, with the chocolate in turn mellowing the sourness of the beer. The flavors complimented each other and left a sweet bubbly feel on your palate. This pairing ended up being the favorite of our friend Elise and was a bargain at under $15. (Alternate Pairing: add raspberry syrup to this beer and pair it with a raspberry truffle.)

For our second pairing of the evening we hopped over the river to Hudson, WI. For this stop we hit up historic Casanova Liquors and Knoke’s Chocolates, both located downtown. If you haven’t been to Casanova’s in a while, you might be surprised by their growing selection of craft beers. The back area if filled with craft brews to the point of almost being claustrophobic, and while their selection isn’t as big as some, it’s has more than enough offerings for any beer lover. They also fill growlers! Further into downtown Hudson you’ll find Knoke’s Chocolates and you’ll never want to leave. Knoke’s is known in the area for the quality of their chocolates and it’s easy to see why. Not only do these candies taste great, they are gorgeous. Your Valentine will be thrilled to receive a box of truffles from this downtown staple.

 

 

We decided on a bottle of Serendipity from New Glarus. The brewery created this fruit ale after a drought left them short on cherries for their cherry sour. Thinking outside of the box, the brewers gathered what cherries they could get and combined them with apples and cranberries to create this ale, and it’s been a hit ever since. We decided on dark chocolate merlot truffles to pair with this deep red ale. The result worked better than we could have imagined. The deep, dry merlot flavor of the truffle made the sweet fruit flavors in the beer pop. The fruit flavors came out crisp and clean and in turn tamed the bitterness of the dark chocolate. Coming in around $18 for 4 truffles and the bottle, this pairing did not disappoint my palate or wallet. It’s easy to see why this was our friend Mark’s favorite. (Alternate Pairing: try a milk chocolate option or the blueberry balsamic truffle from Knoke’s.)

Coming back across the river we headed out to Minneapolis for our third selection of the night. I love the selection and people at South Lyndale Liquors so that’s where we headed!  If you haven’t stepped into this south side staple you’re missing out. South Lyndale Liquors has a wide selection of craft beers at great prices, although I would like to see a greater offering of MN beers on their shelves. We decided on the Genghis Pecan from Clown Shoes of Ipswich, MA.  This 2013 pecan pie porter uses real brown sugar and roasted pecans in the brew – which would be perfect with a nut cluster! (Big thanks to Al at South Lyndale for this suggestion!) So off we headed to the Candy Jar, a Minneapolis candy and gift shop. At the Candy Jar you’ll find friendly staff and a great selection of treats and gifts sure to thrill any Valentine on your list. They even have a variety of sugar free chocolates in their case, so be sure to check them out if you have someone in your life that can’t have sugar, or is watching their intake. We selected 4 pecan clusters, which were a steal for a dollar!

 

 

I won’t lie to you – this pairing was spot on. The nuts and chocolate in the candy amplified the roasted pecan flavor in the beer and brought the brown sugar flavor to the forefront. My biggest regret of this pairing was that we didn’t buy more pecan clusters. I could have honestly spent all night enjoying this combo. This pairing would please anyone and everyone who is a nut fan. This was also our cheapest pick of the night coming in around $9 for the candy and beer. (Alternate Pairing: a turtle or any nut caramel cluster.)

Our final pairing of the evening was from St. Paul. We stopped first at Just Truffles on Grand to check out their offerings. If you haven’t stopped into this local shop you’re missing out. We were greeted right away and offered a sample – how can you not love that customer service!  These candies are free of waxes and preservatives so you’ll want to make sure to keep them refrigerated. I was surprised by the price of $4/truffle, but these are huge truffles! At any other candy shop this amount would make 2-3 standard size truffles easily, so the pricing really does balance out. We decided on café au lait truffles and went on our way to the Ale Jail where the friendly and knowledgeable staff was waiting to assist us in both the Ale Jail and the connected Wine Thief.  You won’t find your mass produced beers here – no Budweiser or Miller on these shelves. Instead you’ll find many local offerings and craft brews from around the country. Here we selected an Espresso Oak Aged Yeti from Great Divide Brewing Co. out of Denver Co.

 

 

Both Andy and I picked this pairing as our favorite of the evening. The Yeti is an imperial stout aged on oak chips with coffee added, which served as the perfect mate to our café au lait truffles. Both the beer and truffles worked together and enhanced the overall coffee flavor that they each brought. If you’re looking for the perfect end to a great Valentine’s Day dinner, this pairing is worth every penny. It was the best of everything an after dinner cocktail or dessert should be. Our St. Paul stop was the steepest cost of the evening at $29 but trust me, these two were worth the price. And if you really want to pull out the stops next Friday, this duo is sure to impress. (Alternative Pairing: we’ve got nothing! None of us had any reason to switch this team up!)

So next weekend, check out these local shops and see what pairings you’ll come up with. And let us know in the comments if you’ve checked out any of our suggestions, or have some of your own! Chocolate and beer…who knew they loved each other as much as you love your sweetheart!


http://www.stillwaterliquor.com/
http://www.candylandstore.com/
http://thenovaofhudson.com/
http://knokeschocolates.com/
http://www.southlyndale.com/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Candy-Jar/100294666696745
http://winethief.net/#/the-ale-jail
http://www.justtruffles.com/
 

Wisconsin's Finest!

Life has been pretty busy this summer. My wife and I really needed to hit the open road together for a short vacation and some beer. Since my wife’s favorite beer, as well as one of mine, is Spotted Cow from New Glarus Brewing it was easy to decide where to go; New Glarus, Wisconsin.

New Glarus is a small town nestled in the rolling hills of south central Wisconsin which boasts a deep sense of Swiss tradition. In fact, it is often referred to as “Little Swiss Town”. It really is this town’s thing. A majority of the buildings look like chalets straight out of the Alps. They have a Swiss bakery, a Swiss chocolate shop, a Swiss meat market, and a great Swiss restaurant which was oddly called the New Glarus Hotel. I say oddly because it was not a hotel and they have no rooms. Figure that one out! While we really enjoyed the town that was not why we were there. We came for the brewery!

(New Glarus Hotel Restaurant)

The New Glarus Brewery is absolutely beautiful! It has almost an old farm type feel to its architecture but has landscaping that will just blow you away, like the huge stone stairs and creek leading to the entrance. We were already amazed and we had barely gotten out of the car!

(Me standing outside New Glarus Brewing)

(My wife, Vicky sitting by the creek in front of the brewery)

The front of the place is nothing compared to the back. They have a huge patio beer area with vast views of the rolling hills and farmland below. Forget taprooms, forget little beer patios, this was bar none the best beer drinking area I have ever seen associated with a brewery. Words can’t describe it, heck pictures barely describe it. In person it was breathtaking.

(The view from the beer drinking area)

 (Drinking beer on the New Glarus Patio)

We grabbed a couple of tasters and headed into the actual brewery for a self-guided tour. New Glarus was brilliant when putting this place together. Basically you walk through a glass hallway where you can see all the inner workings of the brewery, but you get to go at your own pace with a beer in your hand. Plus, no overhead of tour guides for the brewery! It’s very clean, dry, and quiet, which if you tour breweries often you probably know this isn’t always the case.

(Cheers from inside New Glarus!)

(It's working!)

 (Great words to live by inside the brewery)

But back to the beer, which is why we came in the first place. It was a little bit spendy, but for such a beautiful environment for beer drinking I was fine with it. A taster flight of 3 beers of your choice was $3.50, which isn’t a bad price when you add in that you get to keep your taster glass. If you wanted a pint it would cost you 5 bucks (refills were a couple bucks cheaper), but again you walk out with a nice pint glass out of the deal. Heck, they will even rinse it out and wrap it up for you. Talk about attention to customer service and detail!

The most expensive beer we had was a pint of Serendipity. Man, was this beer great! It is a fruit sour ale made with cranberries, cherries, and apples. It was a creation which came about due to a Wisconsin cherry crop that was devastated by a drought in Wisconsin. Thus, instead of making their usual cherry sour beer they used some different fruits and Serendipity was born! It’s fruity, sour, dark, thick and perfect! It came in at a whopping 9 bucks for a pint, but consider that this is a beer that you will pay around 10 or so for a bomber of it at a liquor store. And of course, you keep the glass.

(Vicky enjoying a pint of Serendipity on the beer patio at New Glarus)

We didn’t want to leave, but there was more exploring to do in town and if we didn’t want to have to walk the couple miles back to our hotel room it was time to go. Lucky for us, New Glarus has a beer cave where we could buy some brews to go!

We hit the beer cave and found, among other beers, a strawberry rhubarb beer. It was amazing. It’s a wild fruit ale that had a great tart and sour taste of rhubarb balanced out with the sweetness of strawberries. It reminds one of summer time picnics with strawberry rhubarb pie. What a creative beer!

New Glarus Brewing only sells its beers in Wisconsin. In fact they have a motto, “Drink Indigenous.” Lucky for me I am in Wisconsin almost every weekend.

I did have one beer I did not like, but it had nothing to do with New Glarus Brewing. We went to dinner at a Swiss restaurant. They had some pretty good food, but I think I took the whole Swiss thing too far when I tried the one Swiss beer they had on the menu. It was bad. I couldn’t really tell you anything about this beer because the label is not in English. I drank it, but it was just plain not a good beer. But, when in little Swiss town… right?

(Yuck)

We had a great time in New Glarus, WI and at New Glarus Brewing in particular. The area is beautiful, the town is beautiful, the brewery is beautiful, but most importantly the beer is spectacular! The brewery is worth the drive to New Glarus and the beer is definitely worth the drive to the Wisconsin border.

One last thing! If you enjoy reading  our blog, whether it's for Adventures of a Beginning Home Brewer, Rise of the Beer Barron, our Brewery Series, or just for beer reviews, please take a moment to nominate us (beerploma.blogspot.com) for the best beer blog in the Kind of a Big Deal awards. Just click on the link here, http://growlermag.com/nominations/  and go from there. It only takes a minute and would mean the world to us!

Cream Ales, The Other Summer Beer!

I’m gonna start this post off with a little secret for all of our regular readers.  Some BIG changes are coming to Beerploma.com.  I’m not talking about a logo face lift, although that is part of it.  I’m talking about something BIG!!!

With that said I feel that our recent articles have gotten away from our primary mission:  Educating Craft Beer Drinkers about GREAT local beers.  So as such I would like to start steering the ship back onto the correct course.  So class is in session, and speaking of sessions it’s time to talk about one of my favorite session styles.  Just in time for spring, let’s talk about Cream Ales!

First let’s talk about the history of cream ale.  They first came into popularity before Prohibition in the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic in order to compete with mass produced American Lager (Oliver, 2012).  Taste wise Cream Ales should be light, hoppier then American Lagers, and often have a light fruity taste.  The color should be a pale straw to pale cold and the APV should be between 4.2% and 5.6% (Mosher, 2009).  Cream Ales being a lighter fare should be paired with salty snacks; basically treat them like you would an American Lager.  

Minnesota and Wisconsin are both home to two of the finest Cream Ales in this country.  I’m of course talking about Rise To the Top,by Third Street Brewhouse and Spotted Cow, by New Glarus.  Both are great examples of this great session beer and both are great at showcasing better different aspects of Cream Ales.  Spotted Cow shows off the fruity-ness of the style while Rise to the Top shows off the hop potential.  Both are excellent beers, and I highly recommend sampling the two side by side if you ever get the chance. 

Minnesota Cream Ales:

Rise To the Top:  Third Street Brewhouse

Castle Cream Ale: Castle Danger Brewing(Seasonal)

Other Cream Ales:

Spotted Cow: New Glarus (WI)

Capitol Hop Cream: Capitol Brewery (WI)

Homebrew Kits:

Liberty Cream Ale:  Midwest Brewing Supplies

So now that the snow has finally melted, and we trade in snow-blowers for lawnmowers its time to trade in the porters for cream ales!  Until next time, keep those glasses full!

QUESTION OF THE WEEK:  Which of these beers would win in a Border Battle Royal?  Rise to the Top or Spotted Cow!

Leave your answers in the comments section or on Twitter @beerplomadotcom or on our Facebook Page! 

Works Cited

Mosher, T. (2009). Tasting Beer: An Insider's Guide To The World's Greatest Drink. North Adams, MA: Storey Publishing.

Oliver, G. (2012). The Oxford Companion to Beer. New York: Oxford University Press.