For the chocolate-lover in your life (you?).

Samuel Adams Chocolate Bock:
Brewed Chocolate

What happens when on of America’s leading microbrewers and one of America's finest chocolatiers mix their products together?  Beer-flavored chocolates, you say? 

That’s one option that’s been tried successfully; but today we’re discussing the other: chocolate-flavored beer.  More specifically, Samuel Adams Chocolate Bock, a quite splendid seasonal specialty created by the brewery for Valentines Day 2004, and so well-received that the 50,000 bottles sold out.

While there have long been chocolate porters and stouts—dark, heavy ales with chocolate notes—this is a bock beer—a less bitter lager with a malty profile and little or no hops flavor or aroma. It seems to be a true innovation: a chocolate dessert beer.  Its subtle sweetness lets it pair beautifully with chocolate cake (difficult to match wines to), mousse, flans, custards, panne cottas, and rich cheeses like triple crèmes and mascarpone.  Or, you can enjoy it as dessert on its own.  And as with chocolate porters and stouts, which complement appropriately sauced or seasoned main courses, Samuel Adams Chocolate Bock will drink nicely with game and stews; and is an interesting pairing with sweet-spicy international dishes like curries and moles.

The beer is aged on a bed of cacao nibs, which infuses the chocolate flavor.

The award-winning chocolatiers at Scharffen Berger created a special blend of beans for the project, and after much experimentation, the beer was aged on a bed of forastero cacao nibs from Ghana to acquire its unique layers of chocolate flavor. As the beer matured, they infused fruity, tart and chocolate aromas into the liquid, and a hint of vanilla was added. Tettnang Tettnanger and Spalt hops, hand-selected from the world’s oldest growing area, were combined with a complex selection of malts (including two row Pale, Munich and caramel).

The result: a dark, complex, full-bodied bock with big, malty character with a velvety finish and oodles of chocolate flavor.  If the embossed pewter label doesn’t give you a clue you’re in for a special experience, the first whiff of the nose, heavy with cocoa, chocolate and malt aromas, most certainly does. On the palate, there are layers of chocolate, mocha, vanilla, caramel, and of course, lots of nutty malt.

If you missed the January release, you can grab up your share of this November’s release.  But don’t buy more than you’re going to drink: unlike other beers, this doesn't have a long shelf life.  You can enjoy it through the holidays and this coming Valentine’s Day.  But don’t plan to stretch it to spring.  We’ll find other chocolate excitement for you by then...until next year’s batch of bock is brewed.

— Karen Hochman
Updated August 2007

FORWARD THIS NIBBLE to your chocolate- and beer-loving friends.

SAMUEL ADAMS CHOCOLATE BOCK   750 ml Bottle $17.99 NOTE: This is the size of a bottle of wine, which can serve 4 or more people as a dessert beverage, or fill 2 steins—with some beer left to refill for hearty quaffers Purchase online at Beergeek.biz Available at retailers nationwide. Or find your local distributor at SamAdams.com

Yes, you can eat chocolate and enjoy a bottle of Samuel Adams Chocolate Bock with it. In fact, it’s a great idea.

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