Beer & Chocolate Bar – Lake Champlain Chocolates & Long Trail Brewery Team up to Create Limited Edition Chocolate Bar for the 2013 Burlington Discover Jazz Festival

Burlington, VT –

Chocolate. Beer. Jazz. What happens when you combine all three? The Bebop Hop chocolate bar! To celebrate the 2013 Burlington Discover Jazz Festival, festival sponsors Lake Champlain Chocolates (LCC) and Long Trail Brewing Company joined forces to create this limited-edition chocolate bar.

“After last year’s successful Boom Bam Bourbon Pecan Chocolate Experience Bar, we asked fellow sponsor Long Trail Brewery to collaborate with us on a flavor for this year’s bar,” says LCC’s Director of Marketing, Catherine Wisloski. “We are continually inspired by the local food and beverage producers in Vermont and are always looking to combine ingredients in new ways to create something truly distinctive.”

The Bebop Hop chocolate bar certainly achieves this with a hop-infused, deep malty caramel covered in a silky blend of milk and dark chocolate. LCC’s Research and Development Specialist Lauren Deitsch and Long Trail Brewmaster Dave Hartmann explain the process of using Long Trail’s raw ingredients for making beer to create a finished chocolate confection.

“While touring the LCC factory, we observed the caramelizing process,” says Hartmann. “And I thought it would be interesting to try caramelizing some concentrated malt extract, what we brewers call ‘wort,’ a house-made ingredient used in making our beers.”

“By boiling down the malt extract into a syrup, we were able to use this as a sweetener in our caramel,” explains Deitsch. “Add in Cascade hops and the result is a chocolate bar with a heady aroma reminiscent of Long Trail beers. This was a true collaboration and the end product, with flavor notes of citrus fruit, grassy herbs and malted caramel, balanced with a sweet blend of chocolate, is incomparable.”

“Malt and hops are the basic building blocks of beer,” continues Hartmann. “We concentrated the best part of the malt (the sweet extract) and the best part of the hops (the wonderful aromas) to create an intense burst of malty, hoppy, chocolaty deliciousness.”

“Like the style of music that inspired this creation, the Bebop Hop bar represents a harmonious fusion between the craft of creating amazing chocolates and the craft of brewing fine ales,” said Jed Nelson, Director of Brand Marketing at Long Trail. “The flavor profile of this bar is extraordinary. LCC and Long Trail have really pushed the boundaries here and created something unique and full of flavor.”