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AboutDavid Nilsen, Author at PorchDrinking.com – Page 3 of 9

Posts By David Nilsen

Bean to Barstool Podcast | Trinidad & Tobago Cacao in Beer & Chocolate

March 10, 2023 |

In this episode of Bean to Barstool, host David Nilsen talks with Sarah Bharath, a former academic who now 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. We also talk with Chris Heier, head brewer at Half Hitch Brewing in Cochrane, Alberta, Canada. Chris has family in Trinidad & Tobago, and has brewed a beer and made his own chocolate with Meridian’s Trinidadian cacao from Jagassar Estate.

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Bean to Barstool Podcast | Smoke in Beer & Chocolate

March 1, 2023 |

In this episode of Bean to Barstool, host David Nilsen talks with Caleb Michalke of Sugar Creek Malt in Indiana, an artisan malthouse providing a range of unusual smoked malts for smoked beer. We also talk with Natalie Suwanprakorn of Xoconat in Bangkok, Thailand, and Eric Parks of Somerville Chocolate in Somerville, Massachusetts, who are both introducing smoke flavors to their bean to bar chocolates.

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Yellow Springs & Urban Artifact Partner to Benefit Women’s Brewing Scholarship

February 24, 2023 |

Two southwest Ohio breweries are partnering for International Women’s Day to brew beers that will benefit a women’s scholarship to Cincinnati State’s Brewing Science program. Yellow Springs Brewery in Yellow Springs and Urban Artifact in Cincinnati will brew two beers to be released on March 4, with proceeds providing scholarship funds for a woman to attend the Brewing Science certificate or degree program and ideally enter the brewing industry. The collaboration is being organized by women at each brewery who credit the support and camaraderie of other women in helping them advance their careers.

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Bean to Barstool Podcast | Nicole Hewat of World Tree Chocolate

February 22, 2023 |

In this episode of Bean to Barstool, David Nilsen talks with Nicole Hewat, founder of World Tree Chocolate. World Tree offers curated chocolate boxes based on flavor preferences, but Nicole is also an artist, and she has used cacao in various forms for watercolor paintings as well as illustrations for a book about the cacao-growing and chocolate-making process. During our conversation we talked about flavor and the tasting experience, her process for creating her paintings, and the way flavor can interact with our emotions and the art we take in during the tasting process.

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Bean to Barstool Podcast | Ratza Chocolate

February 15, 2023 |

Sara Ratza loves plants. She’s a certified Holistic Health Practitioner, and she got into chocolate making through herbal medicine. 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, an interest carried over from her love for craft beer.

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Bean to Barstool Podcast | Lust & Chocolate with Author Michele Hauf

February 8, 2023 |

With Valentine’s Day around the corner, David Nilsen decided to sit down with author Michele Hauf, who has written a romance novel themed around craft and bean to bar chocolate called Lust and Chocolate. During their conversation, they talked about her process for writing the book, her own journey into craft chocolate, and whether or not chocolate is really an aphrodisiac.

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Bean to Barstool Podcast | Maple Beer & Chocolate

February 2, 2023 |

Maple is a part of life in eastern North America. In this 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 maple chocolate and maple beer. All of them had memories that tied the flavor of maple into the stories of their lives, and today you’ll hear how evocative the smells and flavors of maple can be. Read More

Bean to Barstool Podcast | Wood, Beer & Chocolate

January 25, 2023 |

What do trees taste like, and can you make beer and chocolate with them? In this episode of Bean to Barstool, David Nilsen talks with multiple experts to unlock how the flavor of wood impact beer and chocolate. Listen as Marika Josephson of Scratch Brewing, chocolate writer Shay Pal, Marika Josephson of Map Chocolate, and The Flavor of Wood: In Search of the Wild Taste of Trees from Smoke and Sap to Root and Bark author Artur Cesar-Erlach discuss how trees influence some of our favorite indulgences.
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Bean to Barstool Podcast | The Chocolate Conspiracy’s Beer-Infused Bars

January 19, 2023 |

AJ Wentworth, the founder and chocolate maker for Utah’s The Chocolate Conspiracy, loves craft beer almost as much as he loves craft chocolate, and he’s partnered with several Salt Lake City craft breweries on a series of beer-infused craft chocolate bars, including bars with Uinta Brewing Baba Black Lager, Kiitos Brewing Coffee Cream Ales and Level Crossing Brewing Soul Rex Double IPA.

In today’s episode, AJ and beer writer David Nilsen discuss the partnerships The Chocolate Conspiracy and neighboring breweries, his process for infusing beer flavors into his bars, the burgeoning Salt Lake City beer and chocolate scenes and his background in raw cuisine.

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Event Preview | Scarlet Lane Scarelastic Book Fair

January 13, 2023 |

As bookish adults, many of us get nostalgic at the memory of the Scholastic Book Fairs from our school days, when we got out of class to spend our allowance money on cheap reading material. A horror-themed brewery in Indiana is bringing the delight of those book fairs back for adults, this time with beer.

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Bean to Barstool Podcast | Loon Chocolate

January 11, 2023 |

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 this episode of Bean to Barstool, Scott shares his memories of brewing craft beer, what makes him love chocolate making, and the numerous ways in which these two artisan industries remind him of each other.
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World of Flavor | Sake’s Key Ingredient Unlocks New Possibilities at Hi-Wire Brewing

January 9, 2023 |

Hi-Wire Brewing in Asheville, North Carolina, won a gold medal at the Great American Beer Festival in 2021 for a beer its brewers weren’t even sure was going to be any good. Their Japanese Dry Rice Lager earned the hardware in the Experimental Beer category, a catch-all for anything too weird for the nearly 100 other categories judged each year. Typical winners have included an Arnold Palmer-inspired Berliner Weisse and a Sour Rye Saison aged on Prickly Pear Cactus. So what was so unusual about this Rice Lager, a beer that — on the surface — was as simple and unassuming as any beer at the festival?

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Bean to Barstool Podcast | New Zealand Beer & Chocolate with Luke Owen Smith

January 4, 2023 |

New Zealand beer and chocolate writer Luke Owen Smith has worked in both the craft beer and craft chocolate industries in this island nation, giving him insight into what these artisan industries have in common and what they can learn from each other. In this episode, Luke and Bean to Barstool host David Nilsen discuss pairing beer and chocolate, New Zealand beer and chocolate, the challenges and opportunities for both in a small market, and how craft chocolate can learn from craft beer’s growth and its mistakes.
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Bean to Barstool Podcast | Favorite Beers & Chocolates of 2022

December 21, 2022 |

Join David Nilsen for a look back at some of his favorite beers and chocolates of 2022. David is joined by special guests Tristan Chan, Courtney Iseman, Em Sauter, Ale Sharpton, Ruvani de Silva, Luke Owen Smith, Emily Stone, Shay Pal, and Hazel Lee for a look back at their favorites as well.

After you’ve listened to the show, we’d love to hear your own favorite beers from the last year. Share your favorites with us on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook!

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PorchDrinking’s Year in Ohio Beer 2022

December 16, 2022 |

Ohio is much more than the butt of TikTok jokes. We’re perenially hovering around the top five craft beer-producing states by volume, and bring in a healthy haul of medals at every World Beer Cup, Great American Beer Festival, and Festival of Barrel-Aged Beer. With numerous mid-sized big cities, Ohio has countless beercation destinations for the beer savvy traveler. Here are my picks for the noteworthy beers, breweries, and stories of 2022 in Ohio beer.

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Bean to Barstool Podcast | Videri Chocolate’s Partnerships with Craft Breweries

December 15, 2022 |

In this episode David Nilsen talks with Sam Ratto, the founder of Videri Chocolate in Raleigh, North Carolina. Videri is celebrating its 11th anniversary on December 15. Videri 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.

Here we hear Sam talk about his ongoing delight in chocolate and his partnerships with a number of craft breweries. We also hear from Sean Lilly Wilson of Fullsteam Brewery and Lauren Woods Limbach of New Belgium Brewing.

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Seventh Son Reborn | One Brewery’s Unusual Strategy for Expansion

December 14, 2022 |

Seventh Son Brewing opened in the historic Italian Village neighborhood of Columbus, OH, in April 2013. Their beer was good and their taproom was friendly and inviting—obvious prerequisites for success—and they set about doing what many other breweries around the country had done before them and have done since: offering classic American craft styles in a communal, social atmosphere.

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Bean to Barstool Podcast | Curating Chocolate Playlists with Cocoa Runners

December 8, 2022 |

“I passionately believe that if we want to save the planet and be healthy we have to go back to savoring and not scoffing.”

In this episode David Nilsen talks with Spencer Hyman, co-founder of Cocoa Runners. Cocoa Runners is a website that sells many of the world’s finest craft chocolate bars, including bars from over 150 makers from over 40 countries. Prior to Cocoa Runners, Spencer was the COO of last.fm, and the playlist curation experience he gained there informs his work at Cocoa Runners, where he sees himself curating chocolate playlists of sorts for folks who may want some guidance when it comes to picking out their next great chocolate discovery.

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Bean to Barstool Podcast | A Malty Bend in the River

November 17, 2022 |

What is malt, how is it made, and what does it do for beer… and chocolate? In this episode of Bean to Barstool, David Nilsen talks with Brian Simpson of Riverbend Malt House in Asheville, North Carolina, who malts barley and other grains for craft brewers and distillers. We also talk with French Broad Chocolates co-founder Jael Skeffington, who uses Riverbend malt in her best-selling chocolate bar, and Kyle Spears & Dan Lauro, the brewers at Carillon Brewing Company in Dayton, Ohio, who use Riverbend Malt in their historical 19th century ales.

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Bean to Barstool Podcast | Sips + Sweets with French Broad Chocolates & Burial Beer

November 9, 2022 |

On November 16 & 17, Bean to Barstool host and Advanced Cicerone David Nilsen in collaboration with French Broad Chocolates and Burial Beer in Asheville, NC, will be hosting two nights of events celebrating the relationship between beer and chocolate.

In today’s episode of Bean to Barstool, David talks with creative folks from French Broad Chocolates and Burial Beer, as well as Hi-Wire Brewing, Green Man Brewery, and Pisgah Brewing about the beers and treats we’ll be enjoying at these two excellent events. Listen in and then purchase your tickets to join us!

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