Chocolate For Dinner?

With a name like Liquid Solutions, beverages pretty much always take center stage in this column.

More often than not, though, a beverage's job is to play a supporting role -- whether it's coffee and juice with breakfast, milk and cookies, wine with dinner or beer and chocolate.

"Wait," I can almost hear you say. "Beer and chocolate?"

Yup. Beer. And chocolate. But not just any beer. And not just any chocolate.

Just ask "Cocoa Pete" Slosberg.

Beer fans might recognize Slosberg as the man who created Pete's Wicked Ale back in 1986, when craft beer was just a glimmer in a few folks' eyes. He sold to another company in 1998 and soon turned his thoughts to another passion -- chocolate.

Slosberg became sweet on chocolate when he was traveling the world promoting Pete's Wicked Ale. Traveling often to Europe, and especially Belgium, he says he was amazed to find high-quality chocolate just about anywhere -- grocery stores, gas stations, vending machines. Typically, the chocolate there has a much higher percentage of cacao for just the "regular stuff" than what is available in the United States, making it a lot better quality, he says.

So, "Wicked Pete" decided to become "Cocoa Pete" and try to do with chocolate what he was instrumental in doing with beer here in the United States -- introducing people to a really good, high-quality, well-crafted product.

Slosberg went to the Culinary Institute of America ("the Other CIA," as he calls it) and learned how to make chocolate. After many trials and errors, he came up with four candy bars that he can feel proud to put his name on: Berry, Berry Dangerous (strawberry and dark chocolate), Maltimus Maximus (brewers malt and milk chocolate), Caramel Knowledge (dark chocolate, caramel and coffee) and Nuts So Serious (a nutty delight based on a 50-year-old recipe).

The names evoke the spirit with which Slosberg spreads his gastronomical gospel -- fun, friendly and just a tad wacky, but in a good way.

Naturally, it wouldn't take long for someone with such a sense of adventure to start experimenting with his two passions. And that's when Slosberg started creating beer and chocolate dinners.

These aren't just meals in which there's a little chocolate here and there, mind you. Each course is made with chocolate. And Slosberg pairs each course with a special beer that he thinks will play off the food -- proof that a well-chosen beverage really can add something to the meal.

"It's not just one plus one equals two," Slosberg says of the pairings. "It's one plus one equals three."

Slosberg has been traveling around the country putting on these decadent dinners. A recent one at The Rose & Raindrop in Portland, Ore., featured six courses, with each one paired with a brew to compliment the food. If I were to go into the whole lineup here, you'd start eating your keyboard, but here are some highlights:

Mayan Chocolate Chicken Soup, a subtly spicy concoction that was supported nicely by an amber beer by Anderson Valley Brewing, of California.

Shrimp sautéed in lemongrass, onion, dried chilies and cocoa powder, accompanied by a Belgian strong ale, Delirium Tremens.

An India Pale Ale from Terminal Gravity Brewing Co., of Enterprise, Ore., paired perfectly with a filet mignon medallion with a dry rub of cocoa powder, ground hazelnuts and instant espresso. The crisp, herbal, citrusy beer also went nicely with the rest of the course: blue cheese mashed potatoes and lightly steamed green beans.

Slosberg says beer is actually a much better partner with chocolate than wine. Being from the wine country in California, he hoped to be able to perform similar dinners with wines, but just couldn't find combinations that clicked.

"It just didn't work with 95 percent of the wines I tried," he said.

If you've managed to save a few pieces of chocolate from your Valentine's Day gift, try it for yourself. Just get a few local craft beers (an amber, an IPA and a Belgian strong or Tripel would be good for starters) and do some experimenting on your own. Slosberg says the only thing to remember is to bite into the chocolate first, let it sit on your tongue for a moment and then sip the beer.

Who knows? You, too, might find that sometimes, one plus one can equal three.

Lisa Morrison's award-winning Liquid Solutions column can be found here every other week. You can reach her at lisa@ibsys.com.