Skip to main content

The 10 best chocolate beers for cacao enthusiasts

Chocolate and beer do in fact work wonders together. Here are some options you should fill your fridge with

Heady stout
wilkernet/Pixabay / wilkernet/Pixabay

All kinds of great adjuncts can squeeze comfortably into beer, from baking spices thrown into the stout vat to fresh citrus in an IPA. The most creative brewers take it a step further, adding fruit and lactose for smoothie sour beers or even kelp if they’re set near the coast.

But we’re here to talk about chocolate, the king of decadence. Turns out, chocolate is a great playmate with beer, provided you select the right style. You can’t just throw cacao at a lager and expect enjoyment. It’s all about balancing flavors and porters and stouts in particular, among a few other heavy styles and barrel-aged beers, do great with chocolate. The malt profiles already exude those kinds of flavors, tasting dark or bittersweet baking chocolate.

Recommended Videos

Many of the following beers are made with chocolate while others simply evoke chocolatey flavors, thanks to the specific malt bill or how the beer is aged. Regardless, they all appeal to the cacao enthusiasts out there.

With spring and summer in the air, it may seem more like refreshing lager and pale ale season. That’s certainly the case, but come evening and after a meal, a good chocolate beer can serve as an outstanding liquid dessert. When it comes to the best chocolate beer, here are your best bets.

Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout
Founders

Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout

Not many beers effortlessly take in perfect 100-point scores from the critics, but this one is known to do just that. It’s a delectable number, barrel-aged, and resonating with character. It can be hard to find and doesn’t always get released every year, but it’s well worth the pursuit.

Buy Now

A can of Maui CoCoNut beer.
Maui Brewing

Maui Brewing CoCoNut Porter

While chocolate is not technically added to this gem of a beer, you’d never know it. The chocolate notes are pronounced, playing off of the toasted coconut flavors and even offering hints of espresso and malted milk ball.

Buy Now

Yuengling's Hershey's Chocolate Porter.
Yuengling

Yuengling Hershey’s Chocolate Porter

This is a favorite among East Coasters, especially as Yuengling is based in Pennsylvania. As the name suggests, there’s Hershey’s in the batch, affording a nice sweetness that lifts up the earthy qualities of this relatively light porter. At under 5% ABV, you can have a few and not beat yourself up about it.

Buy Now

Samuel Smith Organic Chocolate Stout bottle.
Samuel Smith

Samuel Smith Organic Chocolate Stout

Always rated high and always delicious, this organic stout from Samuel Smith of the U.K. is as reliable as they come. The chocolate shows up more on the nose than the palate, but that’s part of the charm, as the stout notes come through, alongside flavors of roasted marshmallow and toffee.

Buy Now

Three Creeks FivePine Chocolate Porter
Three Creeks Brewing

Three Creeks FivePine Chocolate Porter

Here’s an ideal option from Three Creeks Brewing out of central Oregon. Quite smooth and rich, the beer is made with 2 pounds of Belgian chocolate per barrel. That translates to heaven in the glass.

Buy Now

Prairie Artisan Ales Prairie Bomb!
Prairie Artisan Ales

Prairie Bomb!

This release from Oklahoma is a stout aged atop chocolate, along with vanilla, coffee, and ancho chili peppers. The result is a beer with impeccable balance with a kick from the peppers along with some sweetness and earthiness from the chocolate and Java. Careful, this bad boy is a colossal 13% ABV — so hand off the car keys or stay in for the evening.

More Info

Southern Tier Choklat
Southern Tier Brewing

Southern Tier Choklat

Some chocolate beers are so chocolatey they instantly become dessert staples. This is one of those brews, with a candied quality that’s perfect after a big meal. Enjoy it neat in a proper stout glass or alongside a snickerdoodle or piece of biscotti.

Buy Now

Oskar Blues Death by Coconut Porter.
Oskar Blues

Oskar Blues Death by Coconut Porter

This porter is hit with generous amounts of chocolate and coconut, a duo that does amazing things together, especially in beer form.

Buy Now

Odell Lugene Stout.
Odell Brewing

Odell Lugene Chocolate Milk Stout

This beer from Colorado drops every fall and is usually available through the winter. It’s a creamy milk stout, made with milk sugar and is reminiscent of the chocolate milk we used to down as kids.

More Info

Stone Xocoveza Tres Leches
Stone Brewing

Stone Xocoveza Tres Leches

An extension of the California brand’s popular Xocoveza stout series, Tres Leches brings even more flavor to the fore. It’s an imperial stout beer informed by Oaxacan hot chocolate. It’s very indulgent, a little spicy, and all kinds of delicious.

More Info

Mark Stock
Mark Stock is a writer from Portland, Oregon. He fell into wine during the Recession and has been fixated on the stuff since…
Sierra Nevada issues ‘proper pilsner can’
A petite can for a well-balanced Pils
Sierra Nevada PILS.

Inspired by the beaming beer culture of Europe, Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. has released a proper can. The acclaimed label is selling its European PILS in smaller cans, similar to what you might see across the Atlantic in drinking establishments in Amsterdam or Prague. Now, you can get the beer in a petite 8.4-ounce can.

Boasting a clean mouthfeel with floral notes and touches of malt, the pilsner is a dandy. It's the kind of light lager beer your summer may have been missing. Food-friendly, it can pair up with anything from fish and chips and tacos to barbecue.

Read more
BrewDog USA drops new beer in time for National IPA Day
A new India Pale Ale from a well-known outfit
BrewDog IPA.

The summer beer drops just keep coming. Next up, BrewDog USA, the acclaimed brewery out of Ohio. And it's a lovely IPA treated to a pair of hop varieties. Oh, and in case you need some context, National IPA Day is August 7th.

Introducing the BrewDog IPA, a 6.3% ABV beer made with Citra and Chinook hops. The beer comes in a 45 IBUs and is crisp and refreshing. While some IPAs tend to go big on the hop variety count, this one keeps things relatively simple.

Read more
Leinenkugel’s drops shandy-infused custard sandwich
A boozy ice cream sandwich for the ages
Leidenkugel's Summer Shandwich.

There are a lot of fine ways to beat the summer heat. Lately, it's been frozen treats hit with a little hooch from the likes of Miller High Life. Following suit and working with boozy ice cream pros Tipsy Scoop, Leinenkugel's has dropped a special frozen custard.

Inspired by the Shandy, the so-called Shandwich is made with an assortment of ingredients. They add up to be a nice homage to the brand's home state of Wisconsin. The result is something we very much would enjoy, sitting by the lake on a hot August afternoon.

Read more