Eric Parkes at Somerville Chocolate is a tenant in Aeronaut Brewing's building, so he makes chocolate just a short distance from where brewmaster Mark Bowers and Director of Brewing Operations Filipe Garcia are brewing beer. This has allowed for an ongoing creative exchange between these worlds, yielding unique beers made with cacao and unique chocolate bars made with beer, brewing ingredients, and cacao and other ingredients that have been first used to make beer. The relationship has allowed for creative experimentation and mutual education. In this interview, Eric, Mark, Filipe, and I discuss the benefits of this arrangement and look in detail at the beers and chocolate bars that have come from it.

Today we’re talking with Brad Kintzer, the chocolate maker at TCHO Chocolate in Berkeley, California. In our conversation, we discuss TCHO's corporate ownership, how they source their cacao, nthe flavor labs TCHO has established in many cacao growing regions to work with growers on a mutually-informed flavor lexicon, and TCHO’s relationship to craft beer, both through the cacao nibs they provide to brewers through BSG (Brewers Supply Group), and through direct collaborations with breweries like Fieldwork and Faction. These collabs have resulted in some really unique chocolate beers, and most recently, a beer chocolate bar called Hoppy Hour made with Cascade, Centennial, and Chinook hops.

New Zealand beer and chocolate journalist Luke Owen Smith interviews Phoebe Preuss of Living Koko. They talk about Living Koko's relationship with Samoan cacao farmers and Savai'i Koko. They also discuss Penina, Living Koko's non-alcoholic beer brewed brewed in collaboration with Brewicolo and made with cacao and hopped with Citra, Amarillo, and Ekuanot hops.

In this episode of Bean to Barstool Bite Sized we hear from Chris Heier, co-founder and head brewer at Half Hitch Brewing in Cochrane, Alberta, Canada. At the height of the pandemic when most people were learning to make sourdough bread, Chris was learning how to make bean to bar chocolate. He's one-fourth Trinidadian, and he sourced cacao from Trinidad & Tobago through Meridian Cacao and made chocolate from it. He also made a chocolate Porter with the same cacao, and in this quick episode, Chris tells us about developing that beer and what he learned along the way. Nicole is an artist who has created a variety of artwork using cacao and coffee.

In this episode we talk with Leila Carvajal Erker about Cocoa Supply’s new cacao pulp products for brewers, as well as Sam Mosle, the head brewer at Wind River Brewing in Pinedale, Wyoming, who recently brewed a Blonde Ale with cacao pulp. We also discuss a similar beer brewed by Jon Naghski at Fifth Street Brewpub in Dayton, Ohio.

In this episode we talk with brewers at Hi-Wire Brewing in Asheville, North Carolina, about 10W-40, a family of Imperial Stouts brewed with French Broad cacao, Dynamite coffee, and Ugandan vanilla. We talk with Peter Batinski, head brewer at Hi-Wire’s South Slope location in Asheville, where he trials many of Hi-Wire’s beers and leads innovation, and Hank Marshall, head brewer at the Big Top, Hi-Wire’s production brewery near Biltmore Village in Asheville.

Sarah Bharath works with cacao farmers in Trinidad & Tobago on behalf of Meridian Cacao, assisting them in improving their farming and post-harvest processes in hopes of increasing the amount of fine flavor cacao Meridian is then able to purchase and pass along to craft chocolate makers. In this episode, we talk with Sarah as well as Chris Heier, head brewer at Half Hitch Brewing in Cochrane, Alberta, Canada. Chris is one fourth Tobagonian, and has brewed a beer and made his own chocolate with Meridian’s Trinidadian cacao from Jagassar Estate.

Join Advanced Cicerone David Nilsen, French Broad Chocolates, and Burial Beer for two events celebrating beer and chocolate. In this episode of Bean to Barstool, David talks with the folks between Decadence on Display and Sips + Sweets, which will both take place in Asheville in November.

In this episode we talk with Raiye Rosado and Tobias Cichon of Rabid Brewing from Chicago, Illinois, about their Feast of the Goat Queen beer festival and its coronation chocolate beer, Crown of Horns, as well as with Emily Stone, the founder of Uncommon Cacao, about the brand new Philippine Malah Na Bulong cacao we used in the beer.

Brett Smith is the co-founder and head brewer of Branch & Bone Artisan Ales in Dayton, Ohio. He uses cacao from Violet Sky Chocolate for his elegant and complex chocolate beers, and in this quick conversation he explains how he got introduced to Violet Sky and a couple of the first beers he brewed with their cacao—Modern Business Hymns and Campfire Candle.

In this episode we talk with the Ale Sharpton, a beer expert, writer, photographer, and consultant living in Atlanta, Georgia. Ale is one of the most respected voices in the craft beer scene, and he’s a passionate advocate diversity, equity, and inclusion in craft beer.

He has partnered with New Belgium Brewing and Xocolatl Small Batch Chocolate on a signature beer called Piano Keys that would open conversations and show newcomers what beer could be. We talk about the process for developing this chocolate vanilla Imperial Stout, his passion for flavor, and the road ahead for Piano Keys.

Asheville, North Carolina, is one of the best cities for craft beer in the country, with dozens of excellent breweries, including two of the country’s largest craft breweries in Sierra Nevada and New Belgium. They’re also home to one of the best bean to bar chocolate companies in the country as well. In this quick bonus episode, you can hear some of the best chocolate beers in the city.

New Belgium Brewing is one of the largest craft breweries in the country, but they do plenty of small batch experimentation, and they have a particular specialty in beers made with cacao nibs and husks. We’ve talked about a few of those beers previously, and in this quick bonus episode, we look at a few of their recent beers that use ethically sourced cacao from Nuance Chocolate in Fort Collins, Colorado.

Beer and chocolate belong together. In today’s episode we’ll look at a number of recent chocolate and beer collaborations, including beers made with ethically-sourced cacao and craft chocolate made with beer or beer ingredients. Hopefully you discover some new tasting experiences to try out, or if you’re a brewer or chocolate maker, some inspiration for a new project. Just be sure you let me know about it.

Rebecca Hess, founder of Cleveland Chocolate Company in Cleveland, Ohio, was a classically trained fine dining chef who fell in love with bean to bar chocolate and changed her career to make chocolate her life. Cleveland Chocolate produces classic single origin bars that let their cacao shine through, as well as a thoughtfully curated rotation of imaginative inclusion bars. Listen in to hear Cleveland Chocolate’s story, and to hear from Shaun Yasaki of Noble Beast Brewing, who uses Rebecca’s cacao in his beers.

Videri Chocolate in Raleigh, North Carolina, is celebrating its 10th anniversary on December 15, and makes a full line of single origin and inclusion bars, as well as bonbons and other confections, and they also provide cacao in various forms for numerous breweries in the craft beer hotbed of North Carolina. In this interview, we hear from founder Sam Ratto and two brewers who work with his cacao.

Bean to bar chocolate maker Sara Ratza of Ratza Chocolate loves craft beer almost as much as chocolate, and she recently provided Bolivian cacao to Brighter Days Brewing for Hooray for Hazel, a bourbon barrel-aged Imperial Stout that also included lactose and hazelnuts. Check out my quick interview with Sara here!

Tyler Cagwin at Nostalgia Chocolate makes bean to bar chocolate for a living, but he loves craft beer too. He recently partnered with The Bineyard hop farm to make a chocolate bar with Chinook hops. He always worked with Meier’s Creek Brewing to provide cacao for a Chocolate Porter. Hear from Tyler in this new episode.

Fantasy and mythology drive much of what husband and wife team Tobias Cichon and Raiye Rosado do at Rabid Brewing. As the brewery celebrates their 4th anniversary, I sat down with the pair to talk about the passion behind their brewery, the mythological backstories behind their beers, and the sense of adventure the keeps them pursuing their dream.

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. Listen to learn all about this fantastic and delicious chocolate beer.