Trend Alert – seems like beer flavors are trickling into candy. Jelly Belly debuted a non-alcoholic Draft Beer Jelly Bean while ChocOBeer in Europe introduced a line of nine chocolates filled with different Belgium beers. They are cleverly packaged in small shaped beer bottles.
The beer and chocolate combination is not brand new and has been emerging as craft brewers experiment with a variety of ingredients. February is a popular month to launch these seasonal, limited edition chocolate flavors. This year Woodchuck Hard Cider launched the Cellar Series Chocolate and it is crafted with McIntosh and Northern Spy apples and crushed cocoa beans. Foothills Brewing is offering it’s Sexual Chocolate Imperial Stout that is infused with cocoa and is described as having a “big chocolate aroma with notes of espresso, blackstrap molasses, dark sweet toffee and dark fruit.” For those who are not beer drinkers, there’s Chocolat Rouge, which features three chocolate flavors blended with red wine – Milk Chocolate, Dark Red, and Sweet Red.
Watch as beer spills into other unexpected categories and new flavor combinations emerge in candy and chocolate.
Want to tap into more ingredient trends? Let Trendincite LLC custom-design a sweet trend excursion, a lip-smacking marketing presentation, a hoppin’ newsletter or hire Amy Marks-McGee as a guest speaker.