Bean to Barstool Podcast | Somerville Chocolate & Aeronaut Brewing

In this episode of Bean to Barstool, we’re looking at a fascinating collaboration between a craft chocolate maker and a craft brewery. Eric Parkes at Somerville Chocolate is a tenant in Aeronaut Brewing’s building in Somerville, Massachusetts, 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 host David Nilsen discuss the benefits of this arrangement and look in detail at the beers and chocolate bars that have come from it.

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Bean to Barstool Podcast | Leila Carvajal of Cocoa Supply

Leila Carvajal’s family has worked with cacao for generations, stretching back to the 19th century, but every generation has reinterpreted their relationship with this fruit tree that gives us chocolate. Growing up in Ecuador, Leila remembers visiting the cacao farms that provided beans for Cocoa Supply, her family’s company. Leila eventually became a chemical engineer and now lives in the U.S., and has guided Cocoa Supply into its current position as a leading provider of cacao for bean to bar makers and, notably, craft breweries.

Listen in as Leila introduces us to Cocoa Supply. We talk about their business and sourcing practices, the farms they work with, and the products they offer. First though, she tells us the story of her family’s company, a story that begins on a small cacao farm in the 1800s.

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Bean to Barstool Podcast | Rabid Brewing Crown of Horns Chocolate Cream Ale

On July 23, the weird and wonderful humans at Rabid Brewing in Homewood, Illinois, welcomed the fae folk of the surrounding wild country to Feast of the Goat Queen, a day of celebration for all things magical, natural, and mystical. The Feast also featured the release of Crown of Horns, a chocolate cream ale Bean to Barstool brewed in collaboration with Rabid Brewing.

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Coffee, Cacao & Boundless Creativity | Hi-Wire’s 10W-40 Lineup

Hi-Wire Brewing in Asheville, North Carolina, brews a wide range of classic styles ranging from Lagers to IPAs to barrel-aged Sours. Their 10W-40 lineup of Imperial Stouts, however, have allowed them to play with high concept flavor combinations on a familiar Stout foundation, pushing flavor boundaries while staying true to the beer’s classic base style.

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Big Drop Brewing | Galactic Extra Dark

Many craft beers featuring chocolate — or more commonly its main ingredient, cacao — are high alcohol behemoths. Pastry Stouts and related styles are like liquid desserts, and match the luxurious character of chocolate with the indulgence of double digit ABVs. However, one of the most awarded chocolate beers in the world — Big Drop Galactic Extra Dark — has almost no alcohol at all.

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Bean to Barstool Podcast | Ebony & Ivory: Ale Sharpton on Piano Keys Stout

In this episode of Bean to Barstool, David Nilsen talks 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 for folks of all backgrounds, races, and identities to get to enjoy this beautiful drink. A few years back, he 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. Here David and Ale discuss the process for developing this chocolate vanilla Imperial Stout, Ale’s passion for flavor, and the road ahead for Piano Keys Stout.

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From Bean to Beer | The New World of Chocolate Beers

Chocolate beer is nothing new. Brewers have been throwing cacao nibs into stouts for years now. But with a growing recognition among brewers of the flavor potential of fine cacao in various forms, the possibilities for how chocolate can be used in brewing are expanding rapidly. And that’s exciting.

I started a podcast in 2020 called Bean to Barstool, which uses craft beer and bean to bar chocolate as dual lenses for exploring the world of flavor. I wrote in the initial media announcement for the show that people should “think of it as a dream journal written in the complex alphabet of beer and the eloquent vocabulary of chocolate.”

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The Ultimate Roundup | 50 Chocolate Beers for Valentine’s Day

Beer is a love language all on its own. This Valentine’s Day, show your love language by indulging in one of these chocolate-infused craft beers oozing with rich, sweet chocolate goodness. This Ultimate Round Up will help you find the ultimate chocolate beers. You can forgo the chocolates and roses this year. We won’t judge.

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