This is the fourth or fifth year I've made Super Bowl Hot Chocolate, i.e., hot chocolate made with beer, and specifically, beer from each of the two cities playing in today's game. Sixpoint Brewery from Brooklyn is playing for New York, and Samuel Adams gets the call for New England.Beer Hot Chocolate is about 10 years old on the festival's Calendar of Flavors, and it's a flavor that's grown on me year by year [it's now a favorite]. I started making it in the first place because of my longtime affection for Bourbon Hot Chocolate, which began here in 1992. Back then, putting Bourbon into hot chocolate was way too strange a novelty for most people, but these days, with the world of small, craft bourbon makers booming, it's got a more willing audience. Beer Hot Chocolate, however, now resides in the spot where Bourbon began: it's a bizarre idea for most, and it prompts strange looks and sounds from customers when we describe it. For those with an open-mind, they'll discover that certain beer and chocolate have a natural affinity for one another, and the result can be thoroughly unique and totally delicious.
Beer Hot Chocolate is on the calendar three times this year, a status no other single flavor rates. We'll have it again on February 17th [Brooklyn version] and the 24th [Dublin version].
