HopHeadSaid
  • Blog
  • pintsandpairings
  • ABOS

chocolate.pairings: Levitation with Buddha Beauty

3/16/2012

2 Comments

 
Recently, I had the opportunity to travel to Carpinteria and combine two of my favorite things: chocolate and beer. Over the course of two hours, Jean-Michel (chocolatier/owner of Chocolats du Cali Bressan), Jill (his wife) and I tasted a dozen or so delicious artisan chocolates and paired them with beer.  Together we were able to pair six different beers with ten different chocolates! Over the next two weeks I will be posting the results of these delicious and sometimes surprising pairings.
Picture
Click to vist Chocolats du CaliBressan.
Picture
Jean-Michel and Jill.

Chocolate description: Buddha Beauty

Picture
Salted caramel in a dark chocolate shell. Lick his belly for good luck!

HopHeadSaid: This "chocolate" is perfect in its simplicity. There are only three flavors, chocolate, caramel and salt. The chocolate shell plays the supporting role, quite literally, as the gooey sweet caramel takes front stage only to be upstaged a moment later by a hint of salt. 


Picture and Description courtesy Chocolats du CaliBressan


Beer Style and Description: Levitation

Picture
Levitation is the only Stone beer I have ever avoided, until now. What I didn't understand, until after the brewery tour, was that my misgivings about Levitation were the exact reasons why I should try the beer.  First, you can be sure that a beer Stone brews is gonna be flavorful, even if it is an amber session beer*. Levitation lives up that! It has as bold a taste as their flagship beer Arrogant Bastard but without the alcohol. Lastly, as a session beer, you know that you will be able to enjoy a Levitation or two with friends with little worry of becoming inebriated. This is why it has become a permanent fixture in my beer cellar.

*A session beer is beer geek terminology for beer that is low in alcohol and can be  enjoyed in quantity.

I first had this beer at Stone's World Bistro and Gardens in Escondido, CA. World Bistro and Gardens is a beer geek's Mecca and if you can't get there in person (which you really should do) go there virtually [HERE].

Aromoa: Lots of citrus floral hop aroma with some sweet malt aromas hiding under the hops.
Appearance: Pours beautiful dark amber with red highlights and a frothy light-tan head.
Flavor: Crisp hop flavor and bitterness as well as carbonation are the first things you will notice but they give way quickly to a subtle caramel-like malt sweetness.

Food Pairings: Cheese: sharp (blue, Cheddar), Meet: beef, poultry, seafood, Dessert: salted caramels.

HopHeadSaid:  American amber ales are great transitional beers for people moving from maltier beers (Browns or Belgians) to hoppier beers (American Pale ales or IPA’s) as they are usually well balanced but contain lots of hop aromas and hop flavors. 

BJCP Style 10B.  American Amber Ale
Other Examples: Fat Tire Amber Ale, Stone Levitation Ale, Green Flash Hop Head Red Ale
Serving Temp: 40°- 45°
Glassware: Pint Glass, Mug
Aroma: Moderate hop aroma, generally citrusy, sometimes with a pronounced caramel malty sweetness.
Appearance:  Brilliant clarity, unless dry-hopped, amber to copper with off-white head.
Flavor: Malt flavors can be moderate to strong with a caramel sweetness with an assertive hop flavor and bitterness to balance the beer.
Mouthfeel: Medium to full body with elevated carbonation 


This pairing works because:

1.  Levitation is an assertive beer both in hops and carbonation. The gooey caramel coats the inside of your mouth, not to mention fingers, and so the beer's initial hop bitterness and carbonic bite are diminished leaving only the sweet caramel-like flavor of the beer to resonate with Buddha's salted caramel.

2. The carbonation and alcohol, albeit at low levels, do their work up front with this pairing.  Usually the carbonation and alcohol clean up after the the initial flavors come together.  In this pairing the carbonation and alcohol break up the caramel coating so you can enjoy the beer/caramel combination.
Topics: Food Pairing, Beer Pairing, Chocolate Pairing, Beer and Food, Beer and Chocolate
2 Comments
The Frosted Petticoat link
3/15/2012 11:49:10 pm

Oh how we love a good beer and a handful of chocolate to end a hard work day! Great suggestions!

Reply
Curtis AKA HopHeadSadi
3/16/2012 12:31:21 am

Beer and chocolate taste really good at the end of a not so hard work day as well:-)

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Picture
    CraftBeerClub.com-The Finest Beers!-125x125 banner
    Picture

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    November 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012

    Categories

    All
    21st Amendment Brewery
    3 Stars Brewing
    7 Layer Dip
    Abt 12
    Alesmith
    Amber Ale
    Amber Lager
    American Brown
    American Pale Ale
    American Strong Ale
    American Wheat Or Rye
    Aperitif
    Appetizer
    Artichokes
    Arugula
    Asain
    Avery
    Avery 18
    Avocado
    Bacon
    Barleywine
    Bass
    Beer Dinner
    Beer Pairing Basics
    Belgian Dark Strong
    Belgian Golden Strong
    Bigfoot
    Big Sky Brewing
    Black Butte
    Black Currant
    Blonde Ale
    Bock
    Bohemian
    Bohemian Pilsner
    Bonbon
    Bonfire
    Bo's Man Cave
    Boysenberry
    Bread Pudding
    Brooklyn Brewery
    Brown Ale
    Buddha
    Burrata
    Butternut Squash
    Cabots Clothbound
    Cake
    Cal-Belgique
    Caramel
    Carnitas
    Carrot Cake
    Cassis
    Chai Cream Ale
    Cheese
    Chicory Stout
    Chocolate
    Chocolate Chip Cookies
    Chocolats Du Calibressan
    Cider
    Cinnamon
    Coconut
    Coconut Porter
    County Line Rye
    Cream Ale
    Cucumber
    Cupcakes
    Denver Pale Ale
    Dessert
    Dip
    Dogfish Head
    Donuts
    Doppelbock
    Dortmunder
    Double Jack
    Dragonstooth
    Dr. Bill Sysak
    Duchesse De Bourgogne
    Dupont
    Eisbock
    Elysian Brewing
    English Pale Ale
    Esb
    Ewephoria
    Feta
    Firestone Walker
    Fish
    Flying Dog
    Food Pairing Basics
    Four Points
    Frittata
    Fruit
    Full Sail
    Game
    Ganache
    German
    Ginger
    Grapefruit
    Great Divide
    Grilled Meat
    Halftime
    Half Time
    Ham
    Harpoon
    Heavy Seas
    Helles
    Hennepin
    Hinterland Brewery
    Hopsickle
    Horny Devil
    Hoss
    Ice Cream
    Imperial Ipa
    Imperial Stout
    Ipa
    Kolsch
    Kona Brewing
    Kwak
    Lager
    Lamb
    Lasagna
    Levitation
    Light Hybrid Beer
    Light Lagers
    Lilikoi
    Longhammer
    Loose Cannon
    Maibock
    Marzen
    Maui Brewing
    Meatballs
    Melon
    Mexican Cuisine
    Milk Chocolate
    Mission St Brown Ale
    Monviso Blue
    Moose Drool
    Moylan
    Munich
    Nachos
    New Belgium
    New England
    New York
    Nfl
    Oaked Arrogant Bastard
    Oktoberfest
    Old Bar Brown
    Old Bar Brown Ale
    Ommegang
    Orval
    Ouroboros Ales
    Oysters
    Pairing Categories
    Pale Ale
    Paradise Pantry
    Passion Fruit
    Pepper Jack
    Pilsner
    Pilsner Urquell
    Pleasant Ridge
    Pondhopper
    Pork Sliders
    Porter
    Prosciutto
    Pumpkin
    Quadrupel
    Rauchbier
    Ravioli
    Red Brick
    Red Dragon
    Redhook
    Red Hook
    Ruthless Rye Ipa
    Saison
    Salad
    Salad Witbier
    Salsa
    Salted Caramel
    Samuel Adams
    Schwarzbier
    Scuttlebutt
    Sidecar Restaurant
    Sierra Nevada
    Smoked Meat
    Somersalut
    St. Bernardus
    Steinhaus Brewing Co
    Stone
    Stout
    Surf Brewing
    Sweet Potatoes
    Taste Of Home
    Tdac
    Telegraph Brewing
    Teriyaki
    Terza Birra
    Thanksgiving
    The Bruery
    They Draw And Cook
    Tipsy Turkey
    Tiramisu
    Titan Ipa
    Tome De Savoie
    Trade Winds
    Tripel
    Truffle
    Truffles
    Union Jack
    Uplands
    Veggies
    Vienna
    Wassail
    Weizenbock
    Winnemere
    Winter Warmer
    Witbier
    Woody Creek Whit

    food pairing
All Content © Curtis Taylor 2010-2020