5 Tasty Dessert And Beer Pairings

You might be surprised to learn that beer and dessert share more in common then you’d think. The roasted malts present in beer often contain chocolate, vanilla and caramel notes making it an idea pairing for the sweet stuff.

Below we've listed 5 unexpected dessert and beer pairings for you to try out.

1. Dubbel and Lava Cake

A Belgian strong ale (dubbel or trippel) has enough complexity from roasted malts and spices to stand up to a higher percentage chocolate.

Bonus - the boozy warming finish will replicate the warm center of the lava cake. Talk about a match made in heaven.

2. Fruit Lambic and Cherry Cheese Cake

An ideal pairing for a fruit Lambic would be a dessert that compliments the tart flavours of the beer such as a berry cheesecake.

The sweetness of the dessert will break down the cloying sweetness of the Lambic leaving you with a puckering tartness and effervescent carbonated mouthfeel.

3. IPA and spicy chocolate

When pairing an IPA we recommend veering to the sweeter side of chocolate (50% or more) otherwise the bitter cocoa and hops may gang up on your taste buds to form an unpleasant dessert experience. When choosing the chocolate consider spicier infusions such as chili or ginger to contrast against the kick of an IPA.

4. Pilsner and truffles 

The biscuit flavors from the malt in our Czech style Pilsner makes a great match for the cacophony of textures found in our Pretzel bites. Their dark chocolate counterpart - the Beer ganache truffles, get their rich, malty essence from the Pilsner infused ganache filling. The Saaz hops in our Pilsner help to offset the sweetness of the chocolate and the carbonation helps to wash the palate clean. You can pick up a tin of our Dufflet Beer Chocolates at our brewery or in our e store.

5. Wheat beer with lemon bars

Pairing a wheat beer is a great opportunity to look beyond the cocoa bean and work with the citrus notes found in a wheat beer. Orange, lemon zest, banana and clove are all flavors that can be found both in a wheat beer and in baking spices. Lemon bars, banana bread or carrot cake with would be a great pairing for anyone who prefers their sweets not so sweet.