The Absolute Best Beers To Pair With Chocolate, According To A Master Cicerone

You pour yourself a pint and reach for your favorite sweet treat. The beer's carbonation and the soft shattering of mouth-melting chocolate? A perfect match. However, some beers pair better than others, so the key to living out your adult-style "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" dream is being picky on the alcohol aisle. Tasting Table couldn't resist getting the scoop, and Rich Higgins, master cicerone, certified sommelier and former brewmaster, had the answers. 

"Beer styles like Belgian quadrupels, doppelbocks and pastry stouts are typically sweet and are on the hunt for chocolate to pair with!" Higgins explains. "They're fuller-bodied and loaded with malty flavors of toffee, raisin, and chocolate, and they also sneak in other fun flavors, like a quadrupel's clove, orange and banana, a doppelbock's caramel and dried strawberry, and a pastry stout's sky's-the-limit pastry-inspired ingredients and flavors."

Higgins' Instagram is adorned with grids of bottles lined up — snapshots of his tasting sessions. His savvy suggestions for beer and chocolate pairings are ideal guidance for your own DIY tasting experiences. As a general rule, always strive for balance. A sweet beer pairs beautifully with a darker chocolate while  a mellow bar works best with a brighter IPA. Are we looking at the foodie version of Romeo and Juliet? Potentially, especially given that beer is the unanticipated ingredient for richer chocolate cookies. Who are we to keep them apart?

A few snapped segments of dark chocolate strewn next to a stout is likely the image you've conjured up. Ideally, you'd enjoy them both at room temperature and have already chosen complementary notes. But the truth is, pairing beer and chocolate doesn't have to be such a black-and-white experience. Instead of a simple broken bar, why not bake brownies or purchase chocolate-coated nuts? Or, if you're feeling bold, blend the two into one cocoa-flavored beverage? Strictly speaking, tasters are meant to allow the chocolate to melt in their mouth first, smelling then sipping the beer after to fully appreciate the pairing. But once you know what works, there's free rein for creativity.

Chocolate nibs, extract, or powder are easy additions to home-brewed beers — added in the mash or boil stages. If you fancy a more professional blend, try one of the absolute best beers to satisfy your sweet tooth. Interestingly, although you may wonder, "Does chocolate malt beer actually contain chocolate," the answer is sometimes no. Check the ingredients list because flavoring alone is no guarantee you'll be savoring a legitimate pairing.

The most adventurous way to enjoy the two is a DIY chocolate beer float. This boozy homemade cocktail incorporates ale, ice cream, and milk chocolate. You simply add ingredients to store-bought bottles. It's worth using traditional tasting methods to find dreamy pairings before learning how to make a beer float and putting your findings into action.