Wood, Beer, & Chocolate (Ep. 19)

What do trees taste like, and can you make beer and chocolate with them?

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 beer and chocolate. In this episode we explore the flavor of wood and other tree ingredients in bean to bar chocolate and craft beer. 

Timeline of interviews:

5:40-9:00 - Shay of Instagram’s @chocccoffeewine

11:00-38:30 - Artur Cisar Erlach, author of The Flavor of Wood

38:30-1:00:15 - Marika Josephson of Scratch Brewing

1:02:28-1:12:25 - Mackenzie Rivers of Map Chocolate

Chocolate bars discussed in this episode include: Crow & Moss Vanilla Smoke 69%, Map Starry Night & Pinebud Syrup Snowflake, Cloudforest Holy Wood, Somerville Smoked Chocolate, Xoconat Up in Smoke, Violet Sky Pine + Citrus, Standout Nordic Nature Spruce Shoots, and Karuna Stone Pine.

Beers discussed in this episode include: Scratch tree beers, Schneider Weisse Tap X Aventinus Barrique Grand Cru Larch, Kiesbye Waldbier, Fonta Flora & Jester King Extending Branches, Tre Fontane Tripel, Live Oak Old Treehugger, and Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron.

You can hear more about the influence of smoke specifically on beer and chocolate in Episode 05 and in this short bonus episode. 

You can purchase Artur Cisar-Erlach’s book here (click on Buying Options), and watch some of his fascinating videos about using wood and tree-based ingredients on his Youtube channel here.

Mika Laitinen is a Finnish author focusing on Nordic farmhouse brewing traditions, many of which utilize tree ingredients. You can read his guide to brewing with juniper, spruce, fir, and pine here.

You can view my sister Shan’s Instagram post that kicked off this episode here, and find her art here.

The music for this episode was sampled from instrumental versions of the songs “Free,” “Love’s Not,” and “200 Miles” written and performed by indie folk musician Anna ps from her 2016 album Umbrella. You can find out more about Anna at her website.

Guests:

Shay runs the @ChocCoffeeWine Instagram account. She was born in India and has a love for traveling and exploring, and loves experimenting with different flavors of the world. It's this passion that makes her appreciate craft chocolate. She likes to pair craft chocolate with coffees and different types of liquors, playing around with how different flavors partner with each other.

Artur Cisar-Erlach is an award-winning author, ecologist, and food communications expert whose work spans the fields of food and ecotourism. He received his degree in ecology at the University of Vienna and his Masters degree in Food Culture and Communications at the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenzo, Italy. He is the author of The Flavor of Wood: In Search of the Wild Taste of Trees from Smoke and Sap to Root and Bark.

Marika Josephson is the co-owner and brewer at Scratch Brewing Company in Ava, Illinois, and co-author of The Homebrewer's Almanac: A Seasonal Guide to Making Your Own Beers from Scratch. She and partner Aaron Kleidon were semi-finalists for a 2020 James Beard Award for Outstanding Wine, Spirits, or Beer Producer.

Mackenzie Rivers founded Map Chocolate in Oregon in 2014 producing single origin and inclusion chocolate bars. She has since launched The Next Batch, a chocolate school to teach the next generation of craft chocolate makers, as well as Spoon & Pod, a brand producing ethically-sourcing baking chocolate and ingredients for home and professional bakers.