Chocolate Stout with Cocoa Nibs

Hard to believe winter is already here (...well technically not for another week or so, but it is December and the temps have dropped already here in NC!). I have to admit that winter is probably my least favorite beer season. I tend to lean towards the lighter side of the dark beer spectrum - think dunkels, bocks, and porters more than imperial stouts, quads or barley wines. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy those on occasion, but for the every day winter beer I look for something with a lot of malt character but with a lighter ABV and higher drinkability.

With that in mind, I decided to brew a lighter version of a chocolate stout. This one came in at around 5.8% which seemed about perfect for what I was looking for. The recipe included 2-row base malt plus some caramel and chocolate malts, flaked oats, and just a touch of roasted barley. See recipe here: https://share.brewfather.app/aPvuPs3kn271RT

To liven things up for the upcoming holiday season I decided to add some cocoa nibs. From what I've read there are several different ways to use cocoa nibs in brewing. I've seen everything from making a tincture of nibs soaked in vodka to a very simple approach of just adding the nibs during the last 5 minutes of the boil. I (of course!) decided to take the simple route and just added the nibs to my hop spider at the end of the boil.

I used high quality unsweetened and ground nibs from an awesome little company in Hawaii called Manoa Chocolate (had a chance to visit them a few years ago in Kailua- great people and products, highly recommended - https://manoachocolate.com/?srsltid=AfmBOoou2lcaAHK5TPXcmCpzgDRRn2r3gXPhJGyNudBqt5yfNM2w3UeR ).

Brew day was pretty simple, fermentation went as planned, and in a couple of weeks it was ready to drink. I think it turned out really well and was exactly what I was looking for. Given that these were unsweetened nibs, they added nice semi-sweet chocolate notes and some bitterness that I really enjoyed! That said, if you are looking for a sweet and rich chocolately dessert-like beer then this is not for you. Personally I really liked the rich and bitter chocolate notes without sacrificing drinkability.

Have you brewed with cocoa nibs? If so, I'd love to hear your approach and how it turned out. Prost!