Guest post by Krystle, thanks Krystle!

Cof­fee, chocol­ate, and beer…these are a few of Wel­ling­to­ni­ans’ favor­ite things – and thanks to a col­lab, you can now drink a fusion of all three. Loc­al legends Black Dog Brew­ery and Wel­ling­ton Chocol­ate Fact­ory have teamed up to pro­duce the Bean Me Up Mocha Stout. You may be won­der­ing if these fla­vors all go togeth­er? After a thor­ough taste test at the Bean Me Up launch event this week I can con­firm they do. Stout can be a heavy beer that isn’t always easy to drink but this ver­sion is smooth and very drink­able due to the nice bal­ance of cof­fee and chocol­ate with a hint of lactose to give it the creamy pro­file (those who are lactose intolerant/vegan, be warned)

The col­lab has been a year in the mak­ing with time spent devel­op­ing the fla­vours and batch test­ing. Both parties are known for their care and atten­tion around taste and qual­ity with the products they pro­duce so it’s a qual­ity brew. Top Dog from Black Dog Brew­ery Adri­an Klemp worked closely with Wel­ling­ton Chocol­ate Factory’s co-founder Gabe Dav­id­son to get the cof­fee and chocol­ate blend just right. The final product had three dif­fer­ent types of chocol­ate added and was fer­men­ted for a week to devel­op the fla­vours.

While tast­ing Bean Me Up there were a few mur­murs of how it would make a great ‘hair of the dog’ bever­age due to the caf­feine hit you get and we could ima­gine it pair­ing nicely with a big break­fast. Adri­an admit­ted he will often have a little taster in the morn­ing to start his day if he hasn’t had a cof­fee yet, so it’s fully endorsed as a break­fast beer. Bean Me Up is best drunk slightly warm­er to bring out the fla­vour pro­file and sits at 5.9% ABV.

As part of their exper­i­ment­al range, Black Dog has also launched Lone Wolf Citra IPA, a single-hop IPA with Citra hops from the US. It’s zesty, light gold in col­our and has a subtle orange bit­ter­ness and comes in at 6.2% ABV.

Bean Me Up and Lone Wolf are avail­able now on tap at Black Dog Brew­ery (216 Cuba St) but don’t take your sweet time as these lim­ited edi­tion brews are only avail­able while kegs last.