Ingredient Insight: Hogs Back Brewery discusses chocolate lager

Fans of Hogs Back Brewery in the United Kingdom will be able to satisfy their cravings for chocolate and beer in one easy serve, as Montezuma’s Chocolate Lager from Hogs Back Brewery goes into keg format in time for the three key chocolate occasions of Valentine’s, Mothers’ Day and Easter.

Hogs Back Montezuma's in keg (1) — Hogs Back Brewery Managing Director Rupert Thompson with Montezuma’s Chocolate Lager.

Hogs Back claims Montezuma’s is the world’s first authentic chocolate lager, launched in 2014 by the brewery in collaboration with Montezuma’s Chocolate. Mitchells & Butlers will be the first operator to take the beer in keg.

A 4.5 percent ABV, light, refreshing beer with a well-balanced chocolate and hop flavor, Montezuma’s won a Gold award at the International Beer Challenge 2014. It was developed by Hogs Back Brewery with Montezuma’s Chocolate, based in Sussex, using a natural essence from their ‘Lordy Lord’ dark chocolate bar. The lager itself is based on the recipe for Hogs Back’s Hogstar English Lager, which is brewed with five different hops and special botanicals and is matured for over a month to allow flavours to deepen.

Rupert Thompson, Hogs Back Brewery managing director, said, “Montezuma’s appeals both to beer geeks looking to try something genuinely different and to more mainstream drinkers who are intrigued by the idea of chocolate in a glass. We’re pleased to be putting this new, kegged version into more than 100 pubs at the peak time of year for consumer interest in all things chocolate.”

Hogs Back Brewery was founded in 1992 in Tongham, Surrey, in the heart of the traditional Surrey hop growing area. Its flagship brand TEA, or Traditional English Ale, is the leading independent ale in Surrey and increasing in popularity elsewhere. According to CGA Brand Index figures for the year to September 2015, TEA was the third biggest craft beer brand in volume growth terms in the on-trade, behind Brewdog Punk IPA and Goose Island IPA, and saw the biggest growth of any cask ale brand.

In September 2015, Hogs Back Brewery harvested the first hops from its own hop garden on a 3.5-plot adjacent to the brewery, bringing the traditional but near-extinct Farnham White Bine hop variety back to its Surrey home. Once fully mature, the hop garden will provide 25 percent of the brewery’s hop requirements.