Welcome to Grand Cacao, a new chocolate stout that is now available year-round from Tröegs.
Grand Cacao started taking shape in the summer of 2020 on our 3-barrel Scratch Lab.
The initial idea was to create a sweet and milky stout with chocolate and coffee. But when we brought the chocolate and coffee together, the flavors got muddied. We broke them apart in subsequent test batches, and the chocolate path was the clear winner.
The combination of caramel and chocolate malts lays down a deep, rich backbone. Cold-steeping on Peruvian cacao nibs doubles down on the complex depth of flavor, and natural vanilla helps amplify the chocolate notes. A shot of milk sugar adds sweetness and a deliciously creamy texture.
“You’ve had stouts with chocolate notes,” says our Brewing Manager Tim Mayhew. “The way these ingredients come together, this tastes more like chocolate with stout notes.”
The label for Grand Cacao was designed by longtime Tröegs collaborator Lindsey Tweed. She used a soft and chunky ‘70s typeface as a nod the deep, velvety flavor. “Coffee swirls in sumptuous waves,” she says, “creating a pool of milk in the negative space. The shape of a face appears in the top left corner, suggesting the care and attention given to the blossoming beans.”
Grand Cacao is available now in 12-oz. bottles and in 1/2 kegs and 1/6 kegs wherever Tröegs is sold. It joins our lineup of year-round beers: Perpetual IPA, Troegenator, Haze Charmer, Sunshine Pilsner and DreamWeaver Wheat. It replaces long-time coffee stout, JavaHead.
Find Grand Cacao near you at troegs.com/brewfinder.