Austin Jevne of Humble Forager Brewery will always remember the night he visited an Amish maple sugar shack in Wisconsin to source maple syrup for Sugar Shack Diaries, a decadent Imperial Stout brewed with Ecuadorian cacao, Mostra coffee, Mexican vanilla, and maple syrup.

The climates and terrains of Cusco, Peru, and Montreal, Quebec, are about as different from each other as can be, but a bean to bar chocolate company has brought these two places together in poignant and delicious ways. The love story between Maxime Simard and Elfi Maldonado of Qantu Chocolat is like something from a heartwarming romantic comedy. The two fell in love with each other and then with bean to bar chocolate. Qantu Chocolat was born, and brings together the flavors of each partner’s homeland.

Andy Conrad is the fifth generation to tap his family’s maple trees near the small town of Minerva in eastern Ohio. He and wife Amanda own Sandy Springs Brewing Company, a charming brewery in downtown Minerva with its own on-site Airbnbs, and each spring they brew Happy Sappy Imperial Amber Ale with maple sap from his family’s grove, maple syrup, cinnamon, and clove. The connection to these Conrad family trees runs deep.