The Best Chocolate Beers of GABF
I just got back from the Great American Beer Festival, Denver Rare Beer Tasting, and other events in Denver, and I tasted so many good beers. You can subscribe to my newsletter to read about most of those, but here I want to talk about the best chocolate beers I tasted at GABF and other events. Let’s jump right in.
Lady Justice Beer & Chocolate Pairing
Before we talk about chocolate beers, let’s talk about pairing chocolate and beer! I led a pairing at Lady Justice Brewing for the second year in a row, and all four courses were hits with attendees. Here’s what we tasted:
Chosen Family ESB with Omnom Caramel - Classic English Bitter with 50% milk chocolate and caramel.
Sunday Best Hazy Pale Ale with Ritual Desert Sands - Lady J’s best-selling Hazy Pale hopped with comet and cashmere paired with white chocolate with Chili Beak oil and crystallized ginger.
Lil’ Drunk Peach with Crow & Moss Vanilla Smoke - Brown Ale with peaches and amburana with 67% hickory-smoked dark chocolate with vanilla.
Rye Barrel-Aged Chosen Family with Hogarth Sarsaparilla & Orange - Chosen Family aged in Laws Rye Whiskey barrels that had previously aged Rye Porter paired with 68% dark chocolate made with sarsaparilla root, licorice root, ginger root, and candied orange.
The Hazy Pale Ale with the spiced white bar from Ritual got the most votes at the end, but all four were popular.
GABF Chocolate Beers Winners
The Great American Beer Festival has a chocolate beer awards category, and this year I was pleased to see all three winners used traceable cacao.
Gold - Third Eye Double Astral—Maverick Chocolate blend
Silver - River North Midnight Hike—TCHO Ecuador
Bronze - The Bruery Because You’re Mine—TCHO (not sure origin)
Let’s hope more breweries get on board with this!
Best Chocolate Beers of GABF Week
Here were my favorite chocolate and cacao beers from GABF and its surrounding events.
Third Eye Barrel-Aged Double Astral—Despite winning gold in the Chocolate Beer category, Double Astral was always intended to be barrel-aged. The beer is brewed with a blend of cacao origins from Maverick Chocolate and Madagascar vanilla, and is aged in a blend of Heaven Hill and Buffalo Trace barrels. The aroma is all silky, rich dark milk chocolate, and the flavor has a hit of booze but without a hot bite, with oak, a gentle impression of smoke (no smoked malt is used), and vanilla-rich dark chocolate. Beautiful. I’ll have a fun piece coming out on this beer soon.
Third Eye Barrel-Aged Double Astral
Radiant Luxurious Potential—This Black Forest Cake-inspired Bourbon Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout weighs in at 14.0% ABV and is brewed with a blend of Tanzanian Kokoa Kamili and Fijian Rakiraki cacao nibs from Chocolate Alchemy as well as Comoros and Tahitian vanilla beans and montmorency cherries. The final beer is blended from Woodford Reserve 15 year and Weller 12 year bourbon barrels. Some alchemy of the ingredients gave the impression of rum- and maple-soaked raisins covered in dark milk chocolate, with vanilla and a hint of coconut (likely from the cherries and oak). Despite its heft, it finishes just dry enough to make you want another sip. My notes finished “This is how you do it.”
Shoe Tree Coco Burrito Supreme—The big brother to Shoe Tree’s beloved Coco Burrito is a 9% ABV Imperial Porter brewed with Cholaca cacao nibs, peanuts, lactose, and vanilla. A toasty note of corn chip gets steered squared to waffle cone by the context of the other ingredients, and despite the sweet flavors, there’s enough roast to balance that out and it isn’t overly sweet. This is a fun one.
Boxing Bear Chocolate Milk Stout—Great chocolate beers don’t have to be barrel-aged or have double-digit alcohol levels, and Boxing Bear proves it. This 5.2% ABV Milk Stout has gold and silver medals from GABF under its belt, and shows good things can come in small, chocolatey packages. The beer is brewed with Ghana cacao nibs from TCHO (as many are), turning a common ingredient into greatness. The beer is understated and simple but just about perfect.
Silver Reef Java Madre—This 9.0% ABV Imperial Milk Stout is aged with vanilla-soaked Ecuadorian Cacao nibs from TCHO. It’s then steeped with coarse-ground espresso roast coffee from Java Madre Roasting Company.
Copper Kettle Mexican Chocolate Stout—Copper Kettle hadn’t announced they would be pouring this iconic beer at GABF this year, so it was a pleasant surprise when I saw it at the festival! I haven’t been able to track down whose cacao they’re using, but will see if I can get some info.
Twin Elephant Under the Running Board—Pouring at Denver Rare Beer Tasting, this bourbon barrel-aged Imperial Stout is brewed with toasted coconut and Guinea cacao nibs (haven’t established whose yet). Smooth, silky dark milk chocolate with just a touch of coconut and bourbon. Simple but so good.
Bow & Arrow Midnight with a Chance of Coyotes—I finally got to try Bow & Arrow’s unique Imperial Stout with peanut butter, Eldora cacao nibs, vanilla, and lactose. The beer was inspired by a peanut blossom cookie. Toasted peanut shells and dry chocolate roast lead the way with just accents from the other adjuncts. Really fun.
Perennial Peyto—This rarity from Perennial is a 13.3% ABV Imperial Stout blended from Willet and Old Fitzgerald barrels and brewed with Madagascar vanilla, lactose, and cacao nibs. Perennial used to use Askinosie nibs, but now works with a local coffee roaster who imports. I’ll find out more soon.
Dos Luces Chocolate Black Tupac—The final cacao beer I tried in Denver was a bittersweet experience. Dos Luces is one of the most unique breweries in the country, brewing exclusively the pre-Colombian corn-based styles Chicha and Pulque. And…they’re closing for good this Saturday. This Imperial Chicha is brewed with Cultura Chocolate cacao nibs. The impression I got led with spicy Sumatran coffee with a touch of roasted grain acidity and some underlying funk from Pichia yeast. So sad I’ll never taste this unique brewery’s excellent beers again.
Others Chocolate Beers I Enjoyed
Dogfish Head Cocoamburana & Gather de Morro
Beachwood Vanilla Fidge
Pig Minds Barking Crow
Old Irving Barrel-Aged Migration
All of these were solid, but didn’t stand out quite as much as the list above.