Beer and Chocolate Pairing at Equal Exchange and a Giveaway
Hubby and I hopped on the train last week on a rainy afternoon and headed down to North Station. We were chatting along the way about what a beer and chocolate tasting would be like. Would it really be just beer and chocolate? Seemed too much like a wine and chocolate pairing, only weirder…
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| Equal Exchange Cafe, Boston, MA |
After getting off the train, we headed over to Equal Exchange Cafe to see what this beer and chocolate pairing was all about. The cafe was a cute little space that we agreed Hubby should check out some time when he needs a coffee in the North Station area. He usually grabs a DD coffee in North Station when he takes the train home, but it would be worth the one block detour to try some of their free trade coffees.
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| Equal Exchange Cafe, Boston, MA |
Once we arrived, we met a variety of people from Harpoon Brewery, Equal Exchange, and chatted with a handful of other bloggers. We had the whole cafe to ourselves for the evening and to kick things off, we were encouraged to grab a beer.
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| Chocolate and Beer Pairing Guide |
Once everyone arrived, they encouraged us to grab a seat so we could begin the tasting. For each beer and chocolate pairing we first tasted the chocolate, then the beer, then the chocolate and beer together. I’ve done chocolate tastings in the past and it’s similar to tasting wine. First you smell the chocolate. It’s recommended to smell it in a bowl so that any residual smells from you hands won’t interfere with the smell of the chocolate. After noticing the aroma of the chocolate, you take a small bite and chew it a few times. Then allow the chocolate to melt on your tongue. Be sure to take note how the taste of the chocolate changes as it melts.
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| Harpoon UFO White and Dark Chocolate with Almonds |
The beer tasting was similar. We were instructed to swirl the beer around in our cup with our hand over the top to capture all of the aroma in the cup. Then smell the beer prior to tasting it.
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| Harpoon 100 Barrel Series Catamount Maple Wheat and Milk Chocolate |
Lastly, we would taste some chocolate and once it started melting on your tongue, take a drink of the beer. It was interesting to see how the flavors danced around in your mouth. Some started with a strong taste of the beer and others finished that way. It was also interesting to see how the two together had such different flavors than each component on it’s own.
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| Harpoon Dark and Caramel Crunch with Sea Salt |
I am NOT a fan of IPAs and we tasted a Rye IPE that I could not drink on it’s own. However when the chocolate was added to the mix, it tasted like a completely different beer. This was a really unique experience that I’m glad I got to try out.
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| The aftermath of the tasting |
And now on to the giveaway! They gave us goodie bags on the way out the door and I’ve decided to pass my goodies along to you. I can’t ship beer, so I’ll be keeping the bottle of beer they gave me (sorry guys).
Package contains:
– One Harpoon Brewery bottle opener
– Two Harpoon Brewery beer coozies
– Two Equal Exchange coffee mugs
– Three bars of Equal Exchange organic, fair trade chocolate
– One Coffee, Tea, and Chocolate Pairing wheel
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| Giveaway Package |
Giveaway rules:
– Winner will be chosen using Random.org
– US shipping addresses only
– Giveaway is open until 12:00 PM (noon) EST on Thursday, May 17th
– Mandatory first entry: answer the following question: What is your favorite kind of beer or chocolate? Have you ever paired them together?
– For an additional (optional) entry, Tweet the following “RT @beantownbaker Beer and Chocolate?!? Who knew they could be so great together! @EEcafe @harpoon_brewery”
AND, Equal Exchange is also doing a giveaway on their Facebook page. Be sure to check it out here where you can download a pairing guide and enter to win their giveaway. The grand prize is a tasting event for 20 people at Harpoon Brewery!
This event was provided free of charge, but the opinions are 100% my own. Special thanks to Terry from Antler for inviting me to the event!
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
Yum that looks delicious and welcome back to my hometown! Cincinnati’s actually a great town that grows on you and has been evolving quite a bit in the time that you’ve been away. I suspect given your profession and work location history that we probably work for the same company as our day jobs ;).
beantownbaker — January 23rd, 2013 @ 8:30 am
Yes, Cincinnati has changed a LOT since we moved away in 2007.
I would suspect you’re right. There’s enough info to know where I work, especially if you work here too 😉 Going to go check out your blog now. I would love to meet some other Cincinnati area bloggers!
beantownbaker — January 23rd, 2013 @ 8:31 am
Ok I work for the *other* big company in town (just checked your About page).
Isn’t the KA ice cream attachment the best thing ever? I am always making ice cream, even in the wintertime, but I never thought of using canned coconut milk as the base. I’ll have to try this out soon!
beantownbaker — January 23rd, 2013 @ 11:37 am
Absolutely. I didn’t think I could love my KAM any more than I already did. The ice cream attachment proved that I can.
I have lots of cans of coconut milk laying around and I know they make a good ice cream! Adding this one to my list 🙂
I bought myself KA ice creamer maker for my birthday this summer and I adore it! I’ve been thinking about making non-dairy ice creams, but the recipes all sounded strange. It’s great to see a recipe from a trusted source. Can’t wait to try.
beantownbaker — January 23rd, 2013 @ 10:28 pm
Let me know what you think if you try it. I am going to be experimenting with different milks since I can’t have cow’s milk…
love coconut milk based ice creams!! this one looks fabulous, and good call throwing in those oreos 😉
beantownbaker — January 24th, 2013 @ 12:05 pm
It’s ALWAYS a good idea to throw oreos in 🙂
My brother’s favorite thing to get at Coldstone is chocolate oreo ice cream. Too bad I don’t have an ice cream maker, or I would definitely try this!
beantownbaker — January 29th, 2013 @ 7:51 am
I’ve been told you can make ice cream without an ice cream maker. I never tried it before I got mine though…
I just made your recipe and luckily I tasted it before I cooled it. The ratio of sugar to cocoa powder is off. You should use at least twice the amount of sugar to cocoa powder in order for it not to have a horribly bitter taste. After adding more sugar it had a nice sweet to chocolately balance. Thanks for the recipe, my daughter is lactose intolerant and she will enjoy it.
beantownbaker — January 31st, 2013 @ 2:03 pm
I am glad you were able to adjust this recipe to suit your needs. Hubby and I both enjoyed the sweetness level of this recipe. I’m sure different cocoa powders have different levels of sweetness. I plan to try this recipe without the cocoa powder to make vanilla ice cream too. We loved the creaminess of it!
This look yummy and chocolate ice cream is one of my favorite. Thanks for sharing the directions and ingredients.
I just opened a can of coconut milk and it looked extremely curdled. I shook it a lot but it was still completely curdled. Is that how coconut milk is supposed to be out of the can? Are there any brands that you specifically like to use?
beantownbaker — April 24th, 2013 @ 1:44 pm
Hm. It doesn’t usually look curdled, more just separated. Did you try shaking it up? I use Native Forest since that’s what they sell in my grocery store. It looks like this: http://www.amazon.com/Native-Forest-Organic-Classic-13-5-Ounce/dp/B001HTJ2BQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1366829034&sr=8-1&keywords=coconut+milk
Oh how I wish I could try this.. I am currently gluten and dairy free.. However this being dairy free is is not gluten free with the oreo’s… Bummer!!
beantownbaker — October 23rd, 2013 @ 12:28 am
I’ve made this recipe again without the Oreos and it’s really good. Not quite as good as with the Oreos, but if you wanted to make it gluten free, just leave them out.
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