Chocolate Stout Bacon Cocktail
This recipe is from “Beer Cocktails: 50 Superbly Crafted Cocktails that Liven Up Your Lagers and Ales” by Ashley and Howard Stelzer. The beer cocktail trend has been with us for several years now, and continues to grow vigorously. According to a host of print and online sources, the beer cocktail trend is here to stay. Frank Bruni in The New York Times reports that beer cocktails are the number-one sellers in many top establishments, and that their subtle qualities and intriguing flavors have convinced him to rethink his own former aversion to beer-drinking.
Despite the popularity of the trend, Beer Cocktails is the first book devoted to the subject. The Stelzers include among their fifty recipes some classic beer cocktails, such as the Radler from Bavaria, a “warm ale flip” from Colonial America, and the most famous of all, the Black & Tan. The emphasis, however, is on newer concoctions, both their own—and those inspired by cutting-edge bartenders from coast to coast. The four recipe chapters cover pale and American-style beers, Belgian-style ales, stouts and porters, and black and brown ales.
In the world of dark beers, smoke has been used as a flavoring for centuries. Rauchbier (literally “smoked beer”) is a German style made by drying the malt over an open flame, imparting it with savory smoky flavoring and a strong aroma reminiscent of bacon. This recipe combines three winning flavors: sweet chocolate, roasted chicory, and salty bacon. It’s adapted from a drink served at the Dogfish Head Craft Brewery in Delaware.
Serves 2
Ingredients
1 thick slice bacon
8 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
Ice cubes
1.5 ounces chocolate vodka
1.5 ounces Root liqueur (or another root beer schnapps)
12 ounces Dogfish Head Chicory Stout
Directions
1. Cook the bacon slice until crisp; when cool, cut in half and place on a piece of waxed paper.
2. Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave in 15-second intervals, stirring until they are evenly melted. Drizzle the melted chocolate over the bacon pieces and let set.
3. Fill a cocktail shaker halfway full with ice cubes. Add the vodka and Root, and shake to combine.
4. Strain the mixture into two large cocktail glasses. Top with equal amounts of the stout, and lay one chocolate-covered bacon strip over each glass.
Recipe © 2014 by Howard & Ashley Stelzer and used by permission of The Harvard Common Press