Tag Archives: chocolate

Dea Latis stages fifth annual beer and chocolate tasting

27 Mar

Dea Latis. Women in beer.

As part of its continuing quest to encourage more women to enjoy our national drink, industry group Dea Latis hosted its fifth annual beer and chocolate tasting on Tuesday.
Twenty guests gathered in the Clarence pub on Whitehall to taste six beers, each paired with a chocolate chosen to enhance the flavours in each. Expert guidance to the beer and chocolate matches was provided by Annabel Smith, beer sommelier and Dea Latis founder.
Smith said, “We regularly pair beer with a variety of foods, but the chocolate tasting is probably our most popular event. The fact that we’re staging this event for the fifth time reflects not only the strong appeal of sampling beer and chocolate together, but also the growing awareness of Dea Latis within the beer and pubs industry.”
The beers and chocolates tasted by guests at The Clarence were:
• Molson Coors Blue Moon (ABV 5.4%)with Terry’s Milk Chocolate Orange
• Everards Tiger (ABV 4.2%) with Green & Black’s Butterscotch Milk Chocolate
• Thwaites Tavern Porter (ABV 4.7%) with chocolate cup cakes
• Shepherd Neame Generation Ale (ABV 9%) with Green & Black’s Dark Chocolate with Hazelnut & Raisins
• Adnams Sole Bay (ABV 10%) with Montezumas Peeling Amorous White Chocolate
• Liefman’s Kriek lambic cherry beer (ABV 4.2%) with Thornton’s Dark Chilli Chocolate

And the runaway winner chosen as the best match was the Liefman’s Kriek lambic cherry beer with Thornton’s Dark Chilli Chocolate.

 Beer and chocolate: the science behind a perfect match
Essentially, beer and chocolate share the same basic taste, which is a balance of bitterness – derived from the cocoa beans in chocolate, the hops in beer – and sweetness – from the chocolate’s sugar and the malted barley in beer. They also deliver a similar mouthfeel: the chocolate melts in the mouth, while the alcohol in beer creates a warming mouthfeel. So when they’re consumed together, the tastes and textures complement each other. Add to that the carbonation in beer, which cuts through the fattiness of the chocolate and you have a truly perfect match.

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Beer and chocolate tasting: 25th March, London

4 Mar

Date:               Tuesday 25th March

Time:              2.00 – 4.00 pm

Venue:            The Clarence, 53 Whitehall, London SW1A 2HP

We’re delighted to be staging our fifth annual Dea Latis Beer & Chocolate tasting. This time, we’re holding it central London and we hope many of you will be able to join us to taste two of our favourite things in life!

Once again, we’ll be tasting a number of chocolates with beers specially chosen to complement them, with guidance from beer sommelier Annabel Smith and other experts.

So whether you’re a lover of beer, or chocolate, or both, please join us for this enjoyable and informative event. Tickets, including beers, chocolates, expert talks and tea/coffee, cost £17 per person. Please visit our Eventbrite page to buy tickets:

http://bit.ly/1fKLa8W

If you have recently signed up to become a Dea Latis corporate member, discounted entry is available, please email lisa@lisaharlow.co.uk to put your name on the list.

Beer and Choc

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Beer and chocolate tasting wows Leeds ladies

2 Apr

A group of women in Leeds recently joined the growing number of female beer drinkers when theLeeds Met Students Leeds Brewery Tap hosted a pre-Easter beer and chocolate tasting.
The tasting was organised by Dea Latis – named after the Celtic goddess of beer – a nationwide group aiming to encourage more women to enjoy beer. They have staged beer and chocolate tastings in London before, but the event was the first to be held outside the capital.
Guests tasted six different beers, each with a different chocolate designed to bring out the taste in each. Expert guidance was provided by Annabel Smith, Dea Latis founder and one of the country’s few beer sommeliers.
Smith said, “Beer and chocolate are perfect partners. They are both a balance of sweetness and bitterness, so when consumed together, the tastes and textures complement each other.
“Our guests at yesterday’s tasting included experienced beer lovers, occasional beer drinkers and complete novices, but everyone learned something new and, more importantly, had a great evening tasting beer with chocolate.”
The matches sampled by guests were:

  • Leeds Yorkshire Blonde and Ye Old Sun Inn Venezuelan Chocolte
  • Ossett Treacle Stout with Bon Bon’s Dark Chocolate Caramels
  • Brains Boilermaker IPA with Dar Chocolate and Lemon Parfait
  • Jacobsen Velvet Ale with Champagne Truffles
  • Ilkley Brewery ‘The Mayan’ Chocolate Chipotle Stout with Turkish Delight
  • Blue Moon with Terry’s Chocolate Orange

A vote was taken by the group at the end of the evening to choose their favourite beer and chocolate match, and this was won by Ilkley Brewery ‘The Mayan’ matched with Turkish Delight. In a double coup, ‘The Mayan’ was brewed by Harriet Marks, the only beer on the evening to be brewed by a female.

Smith concluded, “This was one of our most successful events and it’s great to move Dea Latis out of London and start involving women in other parts of the country. We chose Leeds because it has such a wonderful, thriving brewing scene and the Brewery Tap was the perfect venue for us.”

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Beer and chocolate tasting event in Leeds

13 Feb

Beer and chocolate – what’s not to like!

The annual Dea Latis Beer & Chocolate tasting is back. And this time, we’re moving it out of London to ‘bring beer (and chocolate) to women’ in Leeds.

Our beer and chocolate tasting has been a popular event for the last four years – probably because it involves tasting beer and chocolate! Guiding you through the specially selected matches will be beer sommelier Annabel Smith.

Please join us for this must attend event. Tickets, including five beers with chocolate, tutored tasting and a substantial buffet, cost £17. For tickets, go to our Eventbrite page: http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/event/4018708064#

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Beer and chocolate… what’s not to like?!

29 Feb

Details are now confirmed for the Dea Latis Beer & Chocolate tasting. This is now in its third year, making it an annual tradition for anyone wanting to break two Lenten abstinences in one afternoon!

We will, once again, be tasting a selection of beer and chocolate matches suggested by brewers, who will be on hand to explain their choices and answer questions.  So please join us:

Date:     Tuesday 27th March

 

Time:    2.00 – 4.00 pm

 

Venue: Draft House Tower Bridge, 206-208 Tower Bridge Road, London SE1 2UP

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All female beer brewing competition won by Dea Latis member

22 Feb

Trumpet heralds at the ready:  DeaLatis member and confirmed beer advocate Louise Ashworth is the winner of a competition for women to create a recipe for their perfect beer. Louise’s fabulous recipe triumphed and later in Spring she will be travelling up to Grantham to brew ……. Wheat Watchers! 

Jane Peyton, Principal of the School of Booze devised the competition in collaboration with Sara Barton at Brewsters Brewing Company as a way of inspiring women to consider brewing beer.  Entrants were asked to take inspiration from one of DivineFairtrade chocolate brands and come up with a beer that they would want to drink.  The prize was for the winner to brew their own recipe with Sara at Brewsters.

Louise described her inspiration for Wheat Watcher’s “My idea is for a wheat beer with raspberries as I think that a lot of women, and men, can be put off from drinking real ale as they think that it will be too bitter. I think that wheat beer is delicious and can be more accessible for non-ale drinkers than many other styles of beer. Unfortunately it isn’t always easy to find a wheat beer in the majority of pubs. I would really like to see wheat beer more widely available and hopefully the beer that we are going to create will be onsale in a large number of pubs.”

Jane and Sara were really impressed with the quality and inventiveness of the competition entries.  Dozens of women entered (and a few men too!) and Sara judged the entries blind.  She chose these recipes as the top 3:

 1st place: Wheat beer with raspberries. By Louise Ashworth

Inspired by Divine Dark Chocolate with Raspberries.

2nd place: Stout with raspberries, cardamom and black pepper. By Orla Lambe

Inspired by Divine Dark Chocolate with Raspberries.

3rd place: Golden ale with chestnut honey and thyme (the honey is supplied by the entrant’s friend from local bees) by Hazel Paterson

Inspired by Divine’s Fruit and Nut

Sara chose Louise’s entry as the winner because she “liked the contrast between the light fruity style of the wheat beer and the dark chocolate with raspberries and felt it would really complement the flavour of the chocolate. Wheat beers are a very interesting complex product with interplay between malt, hops and yeast in particular giving a deceptively full flavoured brew. I am really looking forward to producing the winning entry and am sure it will go down well with publicans and drinkers alike.”

Another really inventive entry was by another DeaLatis member – Niki Skaife, publican of the excellent Masons Arms, Bishop Monkton, near Harrogate.  Niki received an honourable mention for her delicious sounding Mild with Sloe and Juniper.

Jane and Sara had such fun with this competition – and judging by the amazing recipes that came in, so did the women who entered.  It was obvious by all the recipes that us women love flavour! 

When Louise’s Wheat Watcher’s beer is brewed we’ll let you know – maybe you’ll find it on the bar of a pub near you…..

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Invent a beer recipe – and you could get the chance to brew it!

28 Oct

Dea Latis members Jane Peyton, Principle at the School of Booze and Brewster’s Brewery head brewer, Sara Barton, have launched a brand new competition to inspire more women to drink beer by encouraging them to come up with their very own recipe!

If your entry wins you will have chance to brew it at Brewster’s Brewery alongsideBrewsters Brewery Sara Barton.  And it may even go on sale through Brewster’s outlets.

And to make this competition even tastier, they are asking entrants to take inspiration from Britain’s leading producer of Fairtrade chocolate, Divine and devise a recipe inspired by one of their brands. You may also win a stash of Divine’s delicious chocolate. If you have never tried beer and chocolate together then now’s the time – it’s amazing!

Unfortunately there are lots of myths about beer which often put women off drinking it – such as that beer will make you fat. Click here so we can dispel some of those fables. Not only is beer delicious, convivial and fun, but consumed moderately it has myriad health benefits too!  Want to know more?  Then click here.

Are you ready to become a 21st century goddess of beer and enter the competition to brew Ninkasi’s Nectar?

For a chance to brew your very own beer, we invite you to devise a recipe inspired by Divine chocolate.  Take a look at our description of popular beer styles and Jane Peyton’s suggestions for matching beer with Divine’s brands. Click here and then open the file under the box headed Divine & Beer.

So for instance, if you like the sound of Divine’s Dark Chocolate with Raspberries then maybe your beer recipe will be for a Porter or Stout containing rose-hips or some other tangy fruit. Or if Divine’s Dark Chocolate with Ginger and Orange is your choice, then ale containing citrus hops, and something spicy like lemongrass might be your suggestion for your unique creation.

When your beer-licious brainwave hits, think of a snappy name for the brew, and then send your recipe idea to us explaining why you want to brew beer. You don’t need to suggest hop varieties or specific malts, just the general beer style as inspired by Divine chocolate, and any extras such as fruit or spices. Please include contact details and send your entry to:ninkasi@school-of-booze.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Sara Barton will choose a winner to brew the beer at Brewster’s Brewery in Grantham, Lincolnshire. Later on the winning beer will be bottled and the winner will receive two cases to impress their friends and family with. The winner and four runners up will also receive 5 bars of the Divine chocolate brand that inspired their beer recipe.

Good luck!

Terms & Conditions

• With your entry, please include  mobile phone, postal address, and email address.

• The competition closes on December 31st 2011. No entries received after that date will be considered

•  Short-listed entrants will be asked to submit a photograph.

• The winner will be invited to brew the beer at Brewster’s Brewery in Grantham, Lincolnshire, UK on a date to be decided by Brewster’s.

• Entries are welcome from anywhere in the world but travel costs to Brewster’s Brewery in Grantham are the responsibility of the winner.

• Sorry but we cannot accept entries from professional brewers.

• The cost of brewing ingredients will be covered by Brewster’s.

• Sara Barton will decide whether to include the beer in the Brewster’s range of ales for sale.

• The winner will permit her image (photograph and video) to be used in publicity material.

• The winner will receive two cases of  bottles of the beer she brewed.

• The winner and four runners up will each receive five bars of the Divine chocolate that inspired her recipe.

Thanks to the School of Booze for this information.

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