Chocolate and Beer Tasting at The Cock & Hoop Pub

There are a few things in this life that make me happy… beer is one of them, well alright, maybe chocolate as well, and cheese, oh and maybe gin… So imagine my delight when I discovered a night out in the city for craft beer week which could have been made for me, combining two of the above – A Chocolate & Beer tasting evening! Our venue was the historic Cock & Hoop Pub (at The Lace Market Hotel) and our chocolate fix was to be provided by the amazing artisan chocolatiers Studio Chocolate Nottingham.

In my blog I’ll aim to give you an insight into the flavours and pairings we were given to sample, along with scores on the doors for overall presentation, taste and quality from my ‘not a clue’ point of view and that of my ‘slightly more clued up’ pub landlord. I should point out now that all my musings are my own opinions, so I want no abuse from beer connoisseurs if I’ve got anything incorrect, quite similarly if I have muddled up the running order of the chocolate pairings I would request understanding as after the 4^th beer I got slightly muddled!

I took my resident pub landlord (aka the husband) with me, mainly as he knows what he’s talking about when it comes to craft beer, whereas I tend to air on the side of ‘not a clue’ but like the taste and smell of it! Thank goodness therefore that we had our own beer guru and aficionado for the night, Chris, a Stoke lad from Bottle Craft of Stoke. After a sneaky pre-tasting chocolate (which was divine) the tasting commenced…

Each given our tasting cards with the beers and stouts on our agenda, we set off on our journey through world hops, the weird and wonderful and were assured that this was NOT a wine tasting evening and so we would be encouraged to DRINK our beer and enjoy! Music to my ears after a hard day grafting but made me think I should ask the babysitter to stay a little longer!

The first Beer brought out was The Abbeydale Heathen, a pale American ale using a fruity and juicy mosaic hop. This innovative Sheffield brewery come up with a new beer each week so are clearly masters in what they do. The beer was very light and fresh with others in the group detecting flavours such as grapefruit and pineapple. My palette isn’t that discerning obviously, as I couldn’t pull those flavours, but it was a ‘mighty fine wet’ as my pub landlord pointed out!

After a few sips and some discussion about brewery and beer with Chris our first pairing chocolate was brought out, a chocolate orange caramel. Our official advice was to bite half the chocolate and take a sip of beer, coating the mouth and tipping the head forward to mix the tastes. Wow! Surely it wasn’t possible to taste this good together. There were oooo’s and mmmm’s from everyone in the room, heaven had been reached quite early on it seemed! My score 7/10, Pub landlord 8/10

On to the next though…A Gamma Ray from the quirky Beavertown brewery based in London and run by Logan Plant son of music legend Robert Plant! A bit of a higher ABV % on this one at 5.4% and again an American pale ale. This had a crisp smooth taste, slightly sweet and malty and oh so drinkable! I loved this beer, non-offensive and I could see myself drinking it on a night out as it wasn’t too heavy. Looking over to the pub landlord he must have agreed as he was already searching for it on the internet to buy!

This was teamed with a Mocha coffee caramel. We again bit into the chocolate and coated it with beer to find the complement of the two flavours… again it was there and oh so good, which I could never have imagined, be honest…could you? My score 8/10, Pub landlord 9/10

The Yeastie Boys Gunnamatta caused a bit of stir as we laughed about the play on words and reminisced about days of old and the band that inspired the name. Think about it if you haven’t yet twigged!

These guys are what are described in the brewing world as ‘Gypsy brewers’ or ‘Cuckoo brewers’. The terms refer to the fact that they don’t have their own brewery so use the facilities at someone else’s… clever! This had an immediate floral smell and when I tasted it I picked out the strangest taste ever which I questioned… earl grey tea, which it was! What a combination, and even to my heathen palette I detected all the beautiful flavour coming through so delicately. The chocolate pairing however was the real winner here; a dark chocolate thyme caramel. I have never had a chocolate to my mind that has used any herb other than mint, and those who might believe that thyme should only be found on the Sunday roast are wrong, this was all kinds of amazing and the best flavour combination with the unusual Earl Grey beer! The pub landlord felt it was ‘more of a lady’s wet’ but still seemed to be knocking it back so enjoyed it none the less. My score 8/10, Pub landlord 7/10.

Now we moved onto the fruity beers with a Belgium Bieres de Chimay Chimay Red, which was slightly more unusual in that it is a Trappist beer, so made by the monks themselves. Always nonprofit outfits, this beer is produced by only 1 of 13 trappist breweries in the world and to any lager connoisseurs gave a bit more of a Pilsner vibe upon my first taste. A cherry caramel again brought the fruity flavour to the fore. Just delightful, fresh and a gorgeous aftertaste once the chocolate began to melt in the mouth also. The pub landlord really liked this one, his search on the internet to find out where he could buy it from proved this alone! My score 6/10, Pub landlord 9/10.

Now came the one that both of us had been looking forward to but were equally intrigued by; a peanut butter milk stout by Tailgate brewery. Chocolate and peanut butter is just the best combination, but I wasn’t too sure how it would fair being incorporated in a stout. The answer was very well indeed! This drink was all kinds of cool, as denoted by its brewing origins in Nashville, Tennessee, and when paired with a heavenly salted chocolate caramel was a dream. As Elvis might say, this had us ‘all shook up’, or maybe that had something to do with the finishing of our 7^th beer?! My score 10/10, Pub landlord 10/10

As our evening drew to a close the group had certainly bonded over our shared love of beer and chocolate! This was certainly one of the best tasting nights I have ever been to. Chris was a top compare who knew his beer and the history of each brewery, with witty anecdotes thrown in all evening and lashings of banter too.

Look out for another Beer and Chocolate tasting from the amazing team at the Cock & Hoop (at The Lace Market Hotel) it is well worth it, and if you love beer and chocolate as much as us, you will have a blast. Happy tasting!
 

The Cock & Hoop is located in Nottingham's historic Lace Market, just opposite Nottingham Contemporary and the National Justice Museum. Pop in to try a fantastic range of guest ales, including those mentioned in this blog. Click here for more information.

---

This blog was written by Anna Scott, Partnerships Coordinator at Visit Nottinghamshire.