Chocolate

Posted in The Veil Brewing

Think Mounds candy bar: The Veil Brewing Coconut Hornswoggler

The Veil Brewing Coconut Hornswoggler returns to the Richmond, Virginia based brewery’s lineup again on August 8th.

This foray into dessert beer started with the base creation Hornswoggler, a silky, chocolate milk stout. Since then, releases have gotten more and more decadent. French Vanilla, Oreo Cookie, and Bourbon Pecan Peanut Butter Oreos, even one with candy bars have graced the series. August 8th marks the return of  a more tropical (think Mounds candy bar) creation – The Veil Brewing Coconut Hornswoggler.

The base chocolate milk stout has been condition on hundreds of pounds of coconut. The brewery doesn’t half-ass these addtions. When they say coconut, they mean it. 

Coconut Hornswoggler is our house 7% robust chocolate milk stout Hornswoggler conditioned on hundreds and hundreds of pounds of coconut. ? Straight up insane! Tastes/smells like a liquid Mounds bar.

The Veil Brewing Coconut Hornswoggler will be available in 16 ounce cans when the brewery opens on August 8th.

Style: Milk Stout (w/ Chocolate. Coconut. Lactose.)
Availability: 16oz Cans. Limited Release
Latest Return: 8/8/17

7% ABV

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Burial Beer Co, Don't Miss This, J Wakefield Brewing, New Releases

Caramel, chocolate & pecans make Burial The Cosmic and Divine

Asheville, North Carolina’s Burial Beer and Miami’s J. Wakefield are teaming up on a new dessert beer. Meet The Cosmic and Divine.

Think of the “Turtle” candy when approaching this beer. The brand was developed by the DeMet’s Candy Company in 1918. Filled with caramel and pecans and dipped in chocolate, the finished product looks a bit like a turtle.

This beer might not look like a turtle, but it certainly incorporates similar flavors. The base is an imperial stout that has been fermented with lactose for added creaminess, plus salted caramel, chocolate, and toasted pecans.

Upon the backs of behemoths, we hatch the most worthy of ideas. Made with our dear friends at J. Wakefield Brewing, this Imperial Stout was fermented with lactose and salted caramel from Asheville’s Postre Caramels, and then aged with chocolate and toasted pecans.

Burial The Cosmic and Divine will be available in 12 ounce cans when the brewery opens on July 12th. Distribution will be limited.

Style: Imperial Stout (w/ Salted Caramel. Chocolate. Toasted Pecans. Lactose.)
Availability: 16oz Cans.
Debut: 7/12/17

10% ABV

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Burial Beer Co, Seasonal Return

Burial Beer Winnower, with chocolate & raspberries

Burial Beer Winnower returns to cans and draft once again June 8th.

Asheville, North Carolina local French Broad Chocolates brought Burial Beer the cocoa nibs, and the brewery combined them with fresh raspberries. It was up to the brewers to find balance. Burial refers to the beer as an extreme luxury (a mortal sin). You decide.

What which we crave, we seek endlessly. Whether morning, noon, or night, our dreams are overrun with unearthly delights. Our eyes wide, seeking an out of body experience, lost in the depths of decadence. But we learn. The Winnower peels back the layers of excess, uncovering the beauty of balance. Blended among a backbone of well-kilned chocolate malts, our mild, black Porter rests upon 300 pounds of local, French Broad Chocolates cocoa nibs and an immense amount of crushed raspberries.

Burial Beer Winnower will be available 16oz cans (4 packs) at the brewery on June 8th.

Style: Porter (w/ Raspberries, Cocoa Nibs.)
Availability: 16oz Cans, Draft.
Distribution: NC, GA, NY

Debut: 3/10/17
Latest Return: 7/8/17

7% ABV

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in New Belgium, Headlines

Winter Potential: New Belgium Imperial Frambozen with Cocoa

When the weather eventually turns cold, you might be sipping this new release. New Belgium Imperial Frambozen with Cocoa.

“Frambozen” (Flemish for raspberry) is the beautifully red fruit forward beer brewed with a touch of chocolate malt; a seasonal that hit the market around Thanksgiving. For us at Beer Street Journal, there literally was no better beer to pair with turkey. Whether or not we see the base seasonal release again in 2017 remains to be seen. In the meantime, a new edition has popped up on the release radar.

RELATED: New Belgium Frambozen

New Belgium Imperial Frambozen with Cocoa increases the dessert-flavored aspects of Frambozen with both roasted and ground cocoa husks, and fresh northwestern raspberry puree.

Frambozen, Flemish for “raspberry” is our big, luscious celebration of the ruby red fruit found in Belgium’s Framboise ales. Our version is fermented with northwestern raspberries and a special addition of single-origin Ghana cocoa husks freshly roasted and ground by Nuance Chocolate in Fort Collins, CO. A Colorado holiday tradition from our brewery to your glass. Cheers!

New Belgium Imperial Frambozen with Cocoa is touted a limited release in 22 ounce bottles. The brewery has not yet announced this release.

Style: Imperial Fruit Beer (w/ Raspberries. Cocoa Husks.)
Availability: 22oz Bottles

Debut: TBA
8.5% ABV

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Stone Brewing Co., Don't Miss This, Seasonal Return

Stone Mocha IPA is a chocolatey, citrusy, coffee buzz

Stone Mocha IPA will be back in action this month across the brewery’s entire distribution network.

Taking the brewery’s love of India pale ales, and adding coffee and chocolate, and this new seasonal was born. Stone already excels at India pale ales. That little touch of chocolate and coffee makes this imperial IPA impossible to put down. So much so, another coffee and chocolate recipe was recently a part of the Enjoy By Series. 

One of the best IPAs in Stone’s lineup. Everyone already knows Stone Brewing and hops are a match made in heaven. Some of their IPAs are extremely hoppy, some are citrus heavy, tropical, even fruited. Adding coffee and chocolate to hoppy/bitter IPA has been hit or miss in final flavor for years. Then we try Stone Mocha IPA, and we are sold. Coffee and chocolate can truly play well together. Chocolate flavors fade to coffee, with a burst of citrusy hops rounding out each sip. Weird and wonderful beginning to end.

RELATED: Beers with chocolate

Clearly, style lines have been crossed. Is it half-IPA, half-stout? Not quite. It’s definitely all IPA, but it’s also the best of both styles, making this love child of a beer simply just a beautiful, pleasure-seeking meld of imperial IPA and mocha indulgence. How did we come up with this inexplicably delicious creation? Well, that doesn’t really matter. What matters is that it exists and that it’s here for you now, thanks to our deliberate disregard for brewing norms. Some things are not meant to be known, just enjoyed…thoroughly.

Stone Mocha IPA is a draft and 12 ounce bottle offering, returning in June, 2017.

Style: Imperial IPA (w/ Chocolate, Coffee.)
Hops: Cascade, Citra, Amarillo
Availability: 12oz Bottles, Draft. Seasonal offering.

Debut: June, 2016
Returning: June, 2017

9% ABV, 80 IBUs

PIC: Beer Street Journal

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in The Veil Brewing, New Releases

Chocolate chips & candy bars make The Veil Brewing Double Chocolate Hornswoggler

The Veil Brewing Double Chocolate Hornswoggler, the latest variant in the brewery’s highly sought after dessert beer series, debuts on June 20th.

French Vanilla, Coconut, Oreo Cookie, and Peanut Butter Oreos aren’t just tasty desserts. It describes the magically delicious lineup known as The Veil Brewing’s Hornswoggler. This release started as a smooth milk stout with chocolate. Since then, it’s gotten more and more eccentric. A bit like that guy and his chocolate factory.

Double Chocolate Hornswoggler has been aged on hundreds of pounds of milk chocolate, plus a random mix of actual candy bars. (Some bars containing nuts.) Thanks to the extra sugar transferred to the beer, keep this cold, and drink fresh. Don’t waste it by cellaring it.

Creamy, velvety, scrumdiddlyumptious chocolate river of a stout. ?=amirite?!

The Veil Brewing Double Chocolate Hornswoggler will be available in 16 ounce cans when the brewery opens on June 20th.

Style: Milk Stout (w/ Chocolate Chips, Nuts, Candy Bars, Lactose)
Availability: 16oz Cans. Limited Release.
Debut: 6/20/17

7% ABV

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Sierra Nevada, Don't Miss This, The Bruery

Sierra Nevada Raspberry Sundae Ale, with The Bruery

Sierra Nevada Raspberry Sundae Ale can be found in the new Beer Camp Around the World mixed pack – a collaboration with The Bruery.

The Bruery’s Andrew Bell calls this an oddball beer. The ice cream inspired Raspberry Sundae Ale is standout in Sierra Nevada’s Beer Camp Across the World box. To the point where you’re not sure whether you want to drink it first or last.

Raspberry Sundae Ale is brewed with raspberries, cacao nibs, and vanilla plus a touch of lactose for a bit of creaminess. You’ll every one of those flavors, but nicely retrained. A beer like this is supposed to bring a raspberry sundae to mind while drinking, even compliment the actual dessert. Not be a substitute for it.

Sierra Nevada and The Bruery’s Raspberry Sundae Ale creation is just one of 12 tasting adventures you’ll find in the Beer Camp Around the World box. Hitting shelves now.

Style: Herb/Spice Ale (w/ Raspberry, Vanilla Beans, Cocoa. Lactose.)
Availability: 12oz Bottles. Mixed Pack only.
Debut: Late May/June, 2017

8% ABV

Image: Beer Street Journal

by Reid Ramsay