Adjunct
Cocoa
Cacao nibs or cocoa, added for real chocolate character — chocolate malt supplies the impression, not the ingredient.
Cocoa nibs, powder and liquor are three different ingredients. Nibs give aroma and a dry, almost dusty bitterness with very little of what people mean by chocolate flavour; powder gives more of the flavour and can leave a chalky texture; liquor brings cocoa butter, which attacks head retention.
The chocolate character most drinkers find in a stout is usually not cocoa at all — it is dark crystal and roasted malt. A brewer adding cocoa is often chasing something the malt bill already provides, and the addition reads as an intensification rather than a new flavour.
What it is for
Coffee or cocoa. Shares an aromatic family with dark malt, so it reinforces what the grist already does rather than adding something separate.
- Adds genuine chocolate flavour beyond what chocolate malt provides
Whether it ferments
| Fermentable | No — brewing yeast cannot take it, so whatever goes in stays in. It contributes flavour, and where it is a sugar, sweetness and body that survive into the glass. |
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Cocoa butter destroys head retention, so brewers generally use nibs or defatted powder rather than chocolate itself.
What it contributes
The contribution of the ingredient, not the profile of a finished beer. How much of it reaches the glass depends on quantity, timing and what else is in the recipe.
Styles it defines
Styles where this is characteristic rather than optional. Plenty of other beers use it — these are the ones that would not be themselves without it.