The Beer
 London brewer, Young’s, produces a wide array of traditional and specialty English Ales, from their Special London Ale to the Christmas Pudding Ale (said to be soooo good you want to serve it in a bowl and pour brandy sauce all over it!). Their Double Chocolate Stout is one of the closest things to a “dessert Stout” I have ever tasted. It earns its name honestly: not only does it include the darkly toasted barley known as “chocolate malt,” it also has real dark chocolate brewed right in.

Made with pale ale and crystal as well as chocolate malts and seasoned with Fuggle and Goldings hops, this ale is like drinking a chocolate malted coffee milkshake, with a hint of Mexican mole thrown in to deepen the flavor. It throws an impressive, long-lasting thick caramel colored head, leaving nice lace on the glass. The color is a deep, lustrous black with dark cherry highlights – like looking into a fine hand-rubber lacquer paint job. With only 5.2% alcohol by volume, this beer is easy to drink, with a fairly light body considering the depth of flavor. It’s one of my favorite “finish” beers and always on hand for the holidays. I tend toward the canned version (one of the few beers I can say that about), as it has the nitrogen widget, like Guinness, and pours a perfect draft beer from a can. Even easier to drink even than Guinness, this is truly the perfect beer for those that are hesitant to try black beers because they fear being overwhelmed.

The Extras
Just fine on their own, this pair can benefit from a nicely spiced salami, like Fra Mani’s Salametto, to give added breadth of flavor and a bit of texture. I tried several fruits, and while pears brought out interesting flavor images (one taster said pears made the beer and cheese taste like a homemade hamburger with mayo!), the hands down winner was Honeycrisp apples. Instead of breads, we discovered that Kashi TLC multigrain crackers had the perfect flavor and texture for this match.

Why it Works
The earthiness in this cheese is balanced by the overt chocolate characteristics in the stout, while the cheese’s meaty flavor is enhanced by the underlying sweetness in the beer. These two make chocolate mole pudding on your palate! And like fine Mexican mole, this pair has numerous layers of mélanged flavors that evolve noticeably as the beer loses its chill and approaches room temperature. The salami is there to add textural and flavor counterpoints, while the apple is the palate cleanser. This was one of my favorite pairs lately, because it surprised me. It was put together as an afterthought – an addition to another tasting I intended to write up – but this pair outshone all others! I hope you derive as much pleasure in the tasting experience as I did from its discovery.

Read about Mark Todd.

Created for Barbara Adams Beyond Wonderful by
Mark "The Cheese Dude" Todd.