Can't Keep 'Em Apart - A Beer & Chocolate Love Story

Valentine's Day is coming up and, to us, what could be better than celebrating with some craft beer and chocolate? How about raising money for The Greater Boston Food Bank? What if we told you you could do all those things at the same time?!

Well on Saturday, February 11th, 2012 from 2-6pm you can! Drink Craft Beer is taking over the Taza Chocolate Factory Store and we're doing some pretty cool stuff.

Taza Chocolate is a bean-to-bar, organic, direct trade chocolate company that has been growing like crazy over the past years. We met them when it was just a couple guys in a factory in Somerville and we’ve watched them grow to national distribution. To us, it’s incredible what Taza Chocolate is able to do with just a few select, high quality ingredients. It actually mirrors our love of craft beer, as brewers do the same with a few simple ingredients. That’s why we think that these two are such a perfect complement to each other.

It’s no secret, Taza Chocolate and Drink Craft Beer have long been friends. We’ve done not just one, but two events together in the past where we’ve paired some of the best craft beer on the market with our favorite bean-to-bar, organic chocolates. But we’ve never brought you all to the factory before!

Given the reaction to past events, we knew we had to do another and what better time than right before Valentine’s Day? So, with that in mind, we’re taking over the Taza Chocolate Factory Store on Saturday, February 11th from 2-6pm and offering you a chance to try four delicious chocolate and craft beer pairings! All we ask in return is a $3 donation at the door, 100% of which will go to The Greater Boston Food Bank. Come join us at:

Taza Chocolate Factory Store
561 Windsor Street
Somerville, MA 02143

Every dollar that gets donated allows them to provide 2.5 meals to those in need, so your $3 donation will provide 7.5 meals! If you bring just one friend, that’s 15 meals for people who are going hungry!

For just $3, you'll get:

• Four samples of craft beer paired with four Taza Mexicano Chocolates
• Meet Rob Lucente, Co-Founder of Peak Organic Brewing Company
• Meet Caitlin Jewell & Jeff Leiter, Co-Founders of Somerville Brewing Company (aka Slumbrew)
• Hang out with Devon and Jeff from Drink Craft Beer
• A chance to provide 7.5 meals to those who are in need

The pairings you'll get to try are:

Peak Organic Oak Aged Mocha Stout with Taza Mexicano Salted Almond Chocolate

Honestly, we originally thought that Taza’s Mexicano Coffee Chocolate would pair with this beer. But the coffee and chocolate (the chocolate is actually nibs from the Taza factory...it all comes full circle!) in Peak Organic’s Oak Aged Mocha Stout just mirrored the flavors in the chocolate way too much...it tasted good together but it didn’t enhance anything, which is the goal when you’re pairing food and beer. The salted almond chocolate, however, was a great surprise choice! By itself, this is possibly our favorite of Taza’s offerings, it tastes almost like a high-end peanut butter cup. But the beer takes it to a whole other level. The oak introduces a bit of a vanilla taste to the beer, which draws out the richness of the chocolate. While this is going on, the sweetness of the chocolate (in our mind, the sweetest tasting of the Taza Chocolates) adds a little bit of body to the Peak Organic Stout that the high alcohol diminishes. Wrap this sweetness up with the flavor-enhancing salt and the nutty almonds and you’ve got yourself a pairing made in heaven. As you walk away, you’ll note an alcoholy vanilla note. Yeah...it’s nice.

Slumbrew Happy Sol with Taza Mexicano Ginger Chocolate

The Taza Mexicano Ginger Chocolate can vary from having a light ginger taste all the way to an intense ginger taste. The great part about pairing it with Slumbrew’s Happy Sol Blood Orange Hefeweizen is that the combination works at all ends of the spectrum. The Hefeweizen really brings out the ginger in the chocolate. Then, once that’s out there, the flavor goes perfectly with the clovey spice and orange of the beer. You end up finishing on a juicy, gingery thought and almost forget you’re eating chocolate. It’s a really neat effect!

Sixpoint The Crisp with Taza Mexicano Orange Chocolate

OK, we know what you’re thinking: “Chocolate with a pilsner?! But that’s such a light beer!” And yeah, we know it’s light. But you don’t need dark beer for dark chocolate. In this case, the pairing works because the orange is a bit subdued and almost hidden when you’re just eating the chocolate. Sixpoint’s The Crisp, though, is a crisp but full pilsner with some fruity notes at the end of the taste. These serve to bring out the orange in the chocolate and really brighten it up, so you’re left feeling as if you’ve just bitten into a big, juicy, chocolate orange. It’s delicious! These are some of our favorite types of pairings to do because, while we love a dark beer with chocolate, this is what really tends to throw people for a loop and push the bounds of what they think for food pairing.

Narragansett Porter with Taza Mexicano Coffee Chocolate

Now that we’ve done some nontraditional pairings, let’s get back to one that people will expect a little more. Taza’s Mexicano Coffee Chocolate has some pretty serious coffee to it and, while it’s on the sweeter end of their offerings by sugar content, the coffee lowers this apparent sweetness. Narragansett’s Porter, a robust, roasty and malty porter really serves to bring some sweetness to the pairing and rounds the whole thing out. Putting them together really makes the taste of both a lot more full, which is what we always look for in a pairing; 1+1=3.

This is an awesome chance to come and try some great chocolate, drink some amazing beer and meet some of the coolest brewery owners in New England! Not to mention, you'll be raising money for a great cause. Come on out and see us on Saturday, February 11th! Again, it's 2-6pm and the location is:

Taza Chocolate Factory Store
561 Windsor Street
Somerville, MA 02143