5 Great Hops Chocolate Bars
Hops and chocolate photo credit David Nilsen
Craft chocolate has taken much inspiration from the craft beer movement – from sourcing higher quality ingredients to the vast expansion of styles and flavors, and the increase of independent, small-batch producers that are redefining the industry. Now, a handful of bean- to-bar chocolate makers are taking this inspiration one step further, by flavoring their chocolate with one of beer’s key ingredients – hops.
Flavor Focus
One of the most exciting things about craft chocolate is the vast spectrum of flavors that can be discovered in specialty cacao. Bean-to-bar makers are working with more and more unique varieties of cacao beans – making chocolate that highlights these beans in the tastiest way possible.
It’s a similar story for hops in craft beer. Although hops are just one of the four main ingredients of beer (along with malt, yeast and water), they’ve become the rockstars of the industry. 40 years ago, most beer drinkers would have struggled to name a single hop variety, whereas today’s craft beer fans will happily list their top 5, and they’ve probably got their favourite tattooed on their shoulder.
Bridging the Worlds of Beer and Chocolate
David Nilsen, beer and chocolate educator photo courtesy of David Nilsen
David Nilsen is a beer and chocolate educator, an award-winning writer, and the creator of Bean to Barstool – a podcast that explores unique beer and chocolate flavor experiences, and the stories of people who create them. David is equally passionate about beer and chocolate, and has probably tasted more hop-flavored chocolate bars than anybody else in the world.
There are many similarities between hops and cacao. Although awareness of both is growing, many consumers still think of them as having one specific flavor, despite the fact that both can offer hundreds of different flavor notes. David feels that many beer and chocolate fans are disconnected from where these ingredients come from and how they’re grown. “When you look at something like wine or coffee,” says David, “those industries have done a really good job of keeping agriculture front and centre… beer and chocolate have a bit more of a remove there. Not everybody realises that farming component.”
The Art of Hop-Infused Chocolate
Beer and chocolate photo credit David Nilsen
There are a few different methods for infusing chocolate with hop flavor. One is to grind hop flowers together with cacao and sugar, and while this can result in exceptional chocolate, it can also create overwhelming bitterness. Another technique is to soak the cacao nibs in a hop solution, or immerse them in beer while it’s being brewed. The nibs can then be dried out and ground into chocolate, while retaining a subtle hop/beer infusion.
A third method – and David’s favourite – is to immerse chocolate in a sealed container full of hop cones (flowers), leaving it to infuse for a few weeks. David says this causes the cocoa butter within the chocolate to absorb “the whole bright, fruity, floral aromas that can be present in different hop varieties, but you don’t get that corresponding bitterness.”
The earlier you add hops in the chocolate making process, the more bitterness you’re likely to extract. Adding them later in the process tends to create more subtle and delicate aromas, and this is exactly the same for brewing beer. “When a brewer’s writing a recipe,” says David, “they might have a certain type of hops they’re going to use during the process to get their bitterness, and select completely different hop varieties for the flavors and aromas they want. If you’re a maker and you want to work with hops in your chocolate, you need to understand a little bit about what hops do in beer, and how they do it.”
Top of the Hops
Two of David’s favourite hop chocolate bars are made by Somerville Chocolate in Somerville, Massachusetts. Founder and chocolate maker Eric Parkes shares a space with Aeronaut Brewing, and regularly collaborates with the head brewer – exchanging ingredients and sharing ideas.
Somerville Chocolate’s Beer Dark Chocolate bar
David has selected two of Eric’s bars that showcase the incredible potential of different hop-infusing methods. First up is the Somerville Beer Fermented Dark Chocolate 65%bar, which is made from Colombian cacao nibs that were added directly to the fermentation tank during the creation of Aeronaut’s Cocoa Sutra beer. They remained in the tank for the full two-week fermentation, before the nibs were returned to Eric, who dried them and transformed them into this unique chocolate. The fermentation process infused the nibs with a wild medley of flavors – honey, malt, pineapple, citrus and resinous hop notes – all layered with a distinct yet balanced bitterness that complements the chocolate’s depth.
Somerville Chocolate’s Hops Dark Milk bar
The second bar is the Somerville Chocolate Hops Infused Dark Milk Chocolate, which is made by aging the finished bar in a sealed container of Mosaic hops. This is a ‘robust milk chocolate with the added pineapple and evergreen character of the hops’, but without any of the bitterness. David says that “tasting [these two bars] side-by-side, you can see how these two different processes yield different results.”
If all of this deliciousness has got you in the mood for hops, here are three more bars we highly recommend tasting…
Qantu’s Like an IPA! bar
Bold, bright, and brilliantly unexpected, Qantu’s Like an IPA! is a chocolate bar for the adventurous. It’s made with white cacao from Piura, Peru, and infused with the aromatic intensity of sabro hops. The zesty, stone fruit and cedar notes from the hops combine beautifully with this rich and smooth dark-milk chocolate. The hop flavor is air-infused, so you won’t see hops on the ingredient list, despite the incredible IPA-like aroma. The result is a complex flavor journey that challenges conventions and delights the palate – perfect for chocolate lovers and beer aficionados alike.
Rózsavölgyi Csokoládé’s Beer vs. Cocoa bar
Crafted in Budapest, Hungary, this bar combines 73% dark chocolate with candied beer and hops, resulting in a complex and mouthwatering flavor and texture. The vivid taste experience features hop bitterness and intense floral notes, alongside comforting, caramely malt. The inclusion of candied beer adds a unique crunch and sweetness, all of which is balanced with the smooth, deep chocolate base. If you’re a fan of tropical stouts or black IPAs, this bar will be your thing.
SLOK Chocolate 71% Peru Aged with Idaho 7 Hops
Made in Hong Kong, this award-winning bar from SLOK Chocolate is made with Peruvian cacao and Idaho 7 hops, which are known for their tropical, piney and tangerine-like flavor. These notes combine with the fragrant and floral notes of the cacao, resulting in chocolate that’s subtly reminiscent of Riesling or Gewürztraminer. The chocolate is made using aroma absorption techniques that require close monitoring of the temperature, humidity and length of exposure. Science can be so delicious!