Bendites love their beer, no question. The local distillery scene is booming, too. Add that old favorite, chocolate, to either beer or alcohol, and you get a new flavor altogether.

The idea of chocolate in our beers or a chocolate martini is already familiar. A Portland chocolatier has taken the combo a step further by infusing chocolate with Bend beer and liquor.

Julian Rose, Moonstruck Chocolate Co. master chocolatier and research and development director, came up with the idea. “I had the plan of creating a collection with different spirits and making truffles,” Rose said.

Rose selected the distilleries he wanted to use based on types of liquor and started experimenting. “(I wanted) to create a really nice assortment with all sorts of flavors, like gin, bourbon, vodka and so on.”

Two Central Oregon distilleries are featured in the collection. The first is a Bendistillery Crater Lake Pepper Vodka truffle with ivory and dark chocolate.

“We have at least three products that would do well paired with chocolate,” said Alan Dietrich, CEO of Bendistillery. “We left it up to them to pick the (ones) they thought were best.”

When Rose expanded the chocolate truffle collection from nine to 12, he added the Oregon Spirit Distillers Absinthe truffle (absinthe tastes similar to black licorice), featuring dark chocolate ganache. “(Absinthe) is actually one of my favorites … I think chocolate and anise is a nice match, wonderful in flavor, complex but approachable,” Rose said.

Chocolate and beer

You’ve heard dark beers described as chocolate-y before, right? Well, most dark beers don’t include that ingredient.

Owen Woods, assistant brewer at Deschutes Brewery’s Portland Public House said, “We add chocolate malt, (which is) basically barley that’s roasted down to a chocolate color, but it’s not actually chocolate.” The only Deschutes Brewery beer that actually contains chocolate is the Black Butte Porter with Theo Chocolate’s nibs. Other variations of Black Butte Porter, like the Imperial Stout or reserve versions may contain chocolate as well.

Chef Jeff Usinowicz, Deschutes Brewery’s corporate executive chef, worked closely with Julian Rose on the Black Butte Porter truffle. It features dark and milk chocolate-blended ganache, and is available at the Deschutes Brewery, located at 901 SW Simpson Ave. in Bend. That delightful treat is part of the Oregon Craft Brewers Collection of chocolates. “It was really pretty cool he had reached out. His whole idea was that he really kind of wanted the pillars of craft brewing in Oregon,” said Usinowicz.

Rose said he enjoyed making the Oregon Craft Brewers Collection much more than the distillery collection. He sought out well-established breweries in Oregon, looking for signature styles of beer. Rose went to each brewery’s office, and presented samples and concepts. “I had a chance to meet each brewer and talk about what makes the beer special … Then come back to the lab and elaborate the recipe based on what they told me.”

The Oregon Craft Brewers Collection features a chocolate beer cap on top of each truffle, a mold of chocolate made out of a “real crown (cap),” Rose said.

Rose’s line of beer truffles also include a hefeweizen, a white wheat, an IPA, Rogue ales and Widmer Brothers Brewing. But he started with Deschutes Brewery. “Jeff (Usinowicz) and I had talked before, so when I started the project, I talked to Jeff first … it didn’t take long for them to embrace the program.”

To make the truffle, Rose bought kegs of beer, boiled down the beer to remove the carbonation and added those natural flavors to the chocolate. “Beer is much more compatible with chocolate than wine is,” said Rose. “A lot of people are surprised at that statement, but cocoa beans are fermented, and a large part of the flavor from beer comes from fermentation.”

Alcohol content

Rose had made 10 percent alcohol truffles in Canada, where he’s from, but had struggled to make similar chocolates in the United States because the Oregon Liquor Control Commission restricts alcohol content in food. Chocolate, on the other hand, is not clear under the law.

So, Rose created truffles with 3 percent alcohol. Right before the truffles were set to hit the shelves, the OLCC informed Moonstruck Chocolate Co. it would need a liquor license in order to serve or sell the unique treats. Moonstruck applied for and received a permit to sell the confections with 3, 5 or 8 percent alcohol.

With 3 percent alcohol in a truffle, you’d need to eat 60 truffles in order to consume 1 oz. of alcohol. “You would pray you’d be drunk, because at 60 truffles you’d have belly aches,” said Rose.

— Reporter: 541-383-0351; swilkins@bendbulletin.com