Sara Ratza at Ratza Chocolate in Tarpon Springs, Florida, loves craft beer almost as much as she loves chocolate, so working with neighboring breweries was always part of her plan. She recently provided cacao to Brighter Days Brewing , just a 5 minute walk from her shop, for a beer called Hooray for Hazel, a bourbon barrel-aged Imperial Stout brewed with hazelnuts, lactose, and cacao. In this quick bonus episode, Sara and I discuss Hooray for Hazel, the cacao used in the beer, and her future pla...
Nov 16, 2021•5 min•Season 1Ep. 30
“I use [chocolate tasting] as a bit of a yogic moment to find some peace and quiet and sit back and enjoy what I’m eating.” - Tyler Cagwin, Nostalgia Chocolate When I talk to chocolate makers or other chocolate professionals about the tasting experience, what drew them to chocolate, and what happens when they close their eyes with a piece of chocolate on their tongues, nostalgia is the word that comes from their lips more often than any other. So if a chocolate maker is going to use that word in...
Nov 02, 2021•57 min
“The satyr is the fun-bringer, and that is really what we wanted the spirit of this place to be. A poetic hub of fun.” - Tobias Cichon, Rabid Brewing co-founder The large, hand-painted mural above the Rabid Brewing taproom in Homewood, Illinois, depicts a mythical origin story for beer in which fantastical creatures pour the golden elixir out for the denizens of this imaginary world. Fantasy and mythology drive much of what husband and wife team Tobias Cichon and Raiye Rosado do at Rabid Brewing...
Oct 19, 2021•41 min
How do we become better beer tasters and get better at describing the flavors in our beer? Natalya Watson is a Beer Sommelier and Advanced Cicerone® passionate about sharing her knowledge of beer with others because she believes that beer is simply too delicious to remain undiscovered. She’s the founder of Virtual Beer School , host of the ‘Beer with Nat’ podcast , and author of Beer: Taste the Evolution in 50 Styles . In this quick interview, I talked with Nat about how we develop a better tast...
Oct 12, 2021•9 min•Season 1Ep. 28
“Chocolate acted as a central vehicle of women’s ritual power, and was a flashpoint for women’s disorderly behavior in public settings.” - Martha Few in her article “Chocolate, Sex, and Disorderly Women in Late 17th and Early 18th Century Guatemala” as quoted by Megan Giller Chocolate is a plant-based food or drink in which the main ingredient—the seed of a tropical tree—is ground and melted and mixed into something wholly new. Sometimes spices or botanicals are added, and in the past this was a...
Oct 05, 2021•27 min
Need the perfect theme for your at-home beer tasting party with friends? I just published a full guide to hosting your own beer tasting at home on the Bean to Barstool blog, but the one thing I didn’t include was possible themes for your tasting. Listen to this super quick bonus episode for some great ideas to help you choose beer styles for your tasting event, and then read that full guide to help you plan your party! You can also check out my brand new guide to hosting your own beer and chocol...
Sep 28, 2021•5 min•Season 1Ep. 27
It’s exciting for people to learn this history about women in brewing in Medieval Europe and feel like they’re part of a story, but I think it’s important that we’re telling the right story and the story that’s based on primary-source information. In recent years, associations have been made between depictions of Medieval alewives and our modern day image of witches, from pointy hats to cauldrons, and black cats to broom sticks. The story gets passed around by barstool historians claiming modern...
Sep 21, 2021•36 min•Season 1Ep. 27
This decadent Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout was brewed with Belize, Guatemala, and Mexico cacao from a beloved bean to bar chocolate maker. Weldwerks Brewing in Greeley, Colorado, recently partnered with Denver bean to bar chocolate maker Cultura Chocolate on a variant of their legendary Medianoche Imperial Stout that’s all about the chocolate. Double Chocolate Medianoche was aged for 24 months in 5-6 year-old MGP high rye bourbon barrels, and the brewers felt the resulting batch of Medianoche expr...
Sep 14, 2021•5 min•Season 1Ep. 26
“As long as I have my mind and memories and a chocolate, I can go wherever I want.” - Chocolate educator Sanna Forslund Our senses are made of magic (driven by really cool science) and engaging our senses by tasting chocolate can transport us to other places and times, summon memories, evoke emotions, and provoke imagination. Today’s guest is a chocolate educator who uses chocolate as a way to travel the world, recalling places she’s been and imagining ones she hasn’t, and helping others to do t...
Sep 07, 2021•45 min•Season 1Ep. 26
When you’re pairing beer and chocolate, you aren’t pairing a meal; you’re pairing a moment. So how do you make that moment the best it can be? There are some special considerations when it comes to pairing craft beer and bean to bar chocolate, and in this episode I walk some of through those, offering tips on how to pair chocolate and beer. I also share some of my favorite beer and chocolate pairings from the past year. Episode timeline: :01 - Intro & welcome 2:25 - Thoughts on pairing beer ...
Aug 17, 2021•38 min•Season 1Ep. 25
Our senses can be conduits of wonder, transporting us to places we’ve been before and places we’ve only dreamed of, connecting us to past versions of ourselves and to the other people around us. In this episode we talk about tasting good beer and good chocolate with all of our senses, a process that engages our memories, emotions, and imaginations as well. We discuss the process of tasting craft beer and bean to bar chocolate, and discuss how doing that with other people can help us understand t...
Aug 03, 2021•50 min•Season 1Ep. 24
What could be better for Father Day’s than bean to bar chocolate bonbon bars made with amazing craft beer? French Broad Chocolates in Asheville, North Carolina, has once again partnered with Asheville’s Burial Beer on a series of four “bean to bonbon” bars , and they’re as complex, elegant, and indulgent as the beers they’re made with. In today’s episode we talk about and taste through French Broad’s bonbon bars made with beers from Burial Beer. The bonbon bars discussed include: French Broad IP...
Jun 14, 2021•13 min•Season 1Ep. 23
There are countless similarities between the worlds of craft beer and bean to bar chocolate, and few people know that as well as Scott Watson. Scott was a professional craft brewer in the 1990s when craft beer was just beginning to gain national attention. After leaving the craft beer world, he eventually discovered bean to bar chocolate and founded Loon Chocolate . In today’s episode Scott shares his memories of brewing craft beer, what makes him love chocolate making, and numerous ways in whic...
Jun 01, 2021•46 min•Season 1Ep. 22
Honey bees are so cool. A honey bee worker lives for just 5 or 6 weeks during the summer, but in that time she’ll fly about 500 miles visiting 20,000 individual flowers. She’ll fly until her wings literally start to fail and fall off, and by the end of her life she’ll have made about a 1/12 of a teaspoon of honey. There were several beverages in antiquity that were fermented from honey, many of which have survived today. Mead is fermented entirely from honey, while braggot is basically a hybrid ...
May 18, 2021•1 hr 12 min•Season 1Ep. 21
Maple is intimately tied to life in eastern North America, and in today’s episode, you’ll hear from Canadian and American bean to bar chocolate makers and American craft brewers who use maple sap, sugar, and syrup local to their areas in thoughtful, nuanced chocolates and beers. All of them had memories that tied the flavor of maple into the stories of their lives, and in this episode you’ll hear how evocative the smells and flavors of maple can be. I encourage you to seek out one of these choco...
May 04, 2021•56 min•Season 1Ep. 20
In this episode we explore the flavor of wood and other tree ingredients in bean to bar chocolate and craft beer. So many evocative flavors and aromas come from trees without us really thinking about them that way. Cinnamon is a tree bark. Maple syrup comes from tree sap. In the adult beverage world, the quinine that gives bitterness to tonic water and the angostura that flavors the eponymous bitters are both from trees. And of course there are endless variations in smoke aromas, including in be...
Apr 19, 2021•1 hr 19 min•Season 1Ep. 19
In this episode, we talk with Xoco by Corina, a Norwegian bean to bar maker who is partnering with Lervig Beer, a prominent Norwegian craft brewery, to create 3 Bean Stout Chocolate, a 70% dark chocolate bar that is perhaps more evocative of the Amazon than the Arctic, but nonetheless demonstrates the tapestry of influences that make beer and chocolate so exciting. Check out David's book Pairing Beer & Chocolate: A Guide to Bringing the Flavors of Craft Beer and Craft Chocolate Together. Fol...
Apr 06, 2021•44 min•Season 1Ep. 18
In the Cincinnati neighborhood of Over the Rhine—an enclave that housed much of the city’s German population in the 19th century and served as the de facto brewery district—Maverick Chocolate is working with breweries in the city’s thriving craft beer scene to provide cacao for a range of beers. The most recent example is Black Forest Gateau, a strong and elegant Imperial Stout brewed at the Sam Adams taproom in Over the Rhine. Brewed with cherry and cacao and aged in bourbon barrels, the beer w...
Mar 16, 2021•43 min•Season 1Ep. 17
Every aroma or flavor we identify in beer or chocolate or some other food or drink is something we learned at some point, and that personal vocabulary is based upon where we grew up, our cultural background, and a host of other influences. As craft beer works to be more inclusive, the language we use to describe beer needs to be examined and opened up to new influences. In this episode I talk with Dr. J Nikol Jackson-Beckham about where cultural biases are found in beer language and how we can l...
Mar 02, 2021•43 min•Season 1Ep. 16
Springdale Beer in Framingham, Massachusetts, recently partnered with Taza Chocolate in Somerville, Massachusetts, for a special variant of their Brig Mocha Stout brewed with Öko Caribe cacao from the Dominican Republic and Red Barn coffee. Listen to this quick bonus episode to learn more about the beer! Check out David's book Pairing Beer & Chocolate: A Guide to Bringing the Flavors of Craft Beer and Craft Chocolate Together. Follow Bean to Barstool on social media! Instagram Facebook Pinte...
Feb 23, 2021•5 min
Sara Ratza loves plants. She got into chocolate making after getting into herbal medicine, and she brings that plant wisdom and love for green, growing things to the art of chocolate making at Ratza Chocolate. Sara incorporates a variety of botanicals into her bars, including hops. Listen in as she talks about her philosophy behind using these botanical ingredients. Check out David's book Pairing Beer & Chocolate: A Guide to Bringing the Flavors of Craft Beer and Craft Chocolate Together. Fo...
Feb 16, 2021•33 min•Season 1Ep. 15
The use of chocolate in beer and vice versa goes beyond adding cacao nibs to a Porter or Stout or infusing a dark chocolate with the same styles. Orpheus Brewing in Atlanta aged a sour beer on cacao fruit pulp and seeds, then turned those seeds into chocolate. Somerville Chocolate in Massachusetts steeped their nibs in fermenting beer and then dried them out to make bars. There are a host of creative crossover opportunities between brewing and chocolate making. In this episode we talk with the f...
Feb 02, 2021•48 min•Season 1Ep. 14
Smoke is one of the most evocative smells and flavors in the world. But it's more than just one aromas or flavor. Smoke is a diverse array of different flavors. I recently tried a few smoked chocolates and wanted to share those flavors with you in this bonus episode. Check out David's book Pairing Beer & Chocolate: A Guide to Bringing the Flavors of Craft Beer and Craft Chocolate Together. Follow Bean to Barstool on social media! Instagram Facebook Pinterest Sign up for host David Nilsen's b...
Jan 26, 2021•5 min
Coffee is used extensively in the worlds of craft beer and bean to bar chocolate, and today we explore the world of coffee beer and coffee chocolate. In this episode we talk with craft brewers, bean to bar chocolate makers, and artisan coffee roasters about the synergy between these products, as well as how coffee and cacao intersect at origin over topics of ecology and ethics. Check out David's book Pairing Beer & Chocolate: A Guide to Bringing the Flavors of Craft Beer and Craft Chocolate ...
Jan 19, 2021•1 hr 14 min•Season 1Ep. 13
Join me for a look back at my favorite beers and chocolates of 2020, with some pairings along the way. After you’ve listened to the show, I’d love to hear your own favorites from this bizarre trip around the sun. Check out David's book Pairing Beer & Chocolate: A Guide to Bringing the Flavors of Craft Beer and Craft Chocolate Together. Follow Bean to Barstool on social media! Instagram Facebook Pinterest Sign up for host David Nilsen's beer newsletter for regular beer musings, and the Bean t...
Jan 05, 2021•43 min•Season 1Ep. 12
As I fell in love with craft beer in my twenties and eventually bean to bar chocolate in my thirties, and as I grew in my proficiency as a home cook, I noticed something curious happening: the role faith had once played in my young life of pushing me to explore my identity and experiences, contemplate my world, and experience wonder and connection to something bigger than myself was now transferring more and more to my senses. The quest for the eternal had become a celebration of the ephemeral. ...
Dec 15, 2020•1 hr 5 min•Season 1Ep. 11
When highly creative brewers and chocolate makers come together for collaborations, the results can be magical. In this episode we’ll talk with Hans Westerink of Violet Sky Chocolate in South Bend, Indiana, who creates fantastic single origin and inclusion chocolate bars and frequently collaborates with craft brewers. We’ll also talk with Brett Smith of Branch & Bone Artisan Ales in Dayton, Ohio, who produces a wide variety of excellent and unique beers, including some using cacao. Both disc...
Dec 01, 2020•47 min•Season 1Ep. 10
Malt is the foundational ingredient of beer, but it’s an afterthought for most craft beer fans. A new group of small, artisan malt houses are returning character to brewing malt, and that malt is popping up in unexpected places—including bean to bar chocolate bars. In this episode we talk with Riverbend Malt House, French Broad Chocolates, & Carillon Brewing Company. Check out David's book Pairing Beer & Chocolate: A Guide to Bringing the Flavors of Craft Beer and Craft Chocolate Togethe...
Nov 17, 2020•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 9
Many brewers who use cacao in a beer have no idea where that cacao is coming from, or any of its more nuanced flavor notes. They see chocolate as one abstract flavor, so the details don’t matter. More and more brewers are recognizing the flavor diversity of good chocolate and the benefits of working with a bean to bar chocolate company to source ethical, quality cacao. In this episode we’ll talk with Chris Davison of Wolf’s Ridge Brewing and Colin Vent of Seventh Son Brewing, both in Columbus, O...
Nov 03, 2020•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 8
Beers and chocolates featuring smoke or spice flavors require graceful dance partners that can both set them free and keep them on beat. Find some great examples in this episode. Check out David's book Pairing Beer & Chocolate: A Guide to Bringing the Flavors of Craft Beer and Craft Chocolate Together. Follow Bean to Barstool on social media! Instagram Facebook Pinterest Sign up for host David Nilsen's beer newsletter for regular beer musings, and the Bean to Barstool newsletter for pairings...
Oct 20, 2020•32 min•Season 1Ep. 7
