Hey, everyone. Welcome to Bean to Barstool Bite Sized, where we spend about 5 minutes with some of our favorite people from craft beer and craft chocolate. Today we hear from Brian Simpson of Riverbend Malt in Asheville, North Carolina. I spoke with Brian all the way back in 2020 for this podcast, but we met up recently for a beer when he was passing through Dayton, and I want to reshare some of his thoughts from that older episode here. Brian shares his thoughts on the meaning of local in craft beer. We prize beers that are brewed locally, but where are the ingredients from? Can a beer be local if it isn’t grown locally? Take a few minutes this morning to hear from Brian on what local or regional malt can do for beer.

You can find out more about Riverbend Malt here.

You can listen to my entire interview with Brian here.

Check out David's new book Pairing Beer & Chocolate: A Guide to Bringing the Flavors of Craft Beer and Craft Chocolate Together.

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In this episode we talk with Franz Zeimetz of Lost Origin Coffee Lab and Casa Bruja brewery and Jaime Pérez of Bocao chocolate, all from Panama. We discuss the state of craft chocolate, craft beer, and coffee in Panama, and a series of experiments and collaborations they've pursued between these three worlds. Franz has used raw cacao fruit from Jaime in a mixed-fermentation Saison, and is experimenting with various cacao and coffee fermentations.

You can find out more about Bocao here, Lost Origin Coffee Lab here, and Casa Bruja here.

Also mentioned in the episode are Dark Matter Coffee, Omega Yeast, and White Labs.

If you want to learn more about cacao fermentation, listen to this episode with cacao agronomist Sarah Bharath.

Check out David's new book Pairing Beer & Chocolate: A Guide to Bringing the Flavors of Craft Beer and Craft Chocolate Together.

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Welcome to Bean to Barstool Bite Sized, where we spend about 5 minutes with some of our favorite people from craft beer and craft chocolate. Today we hear from Hank Marshall and Peter Batinski at Hi-Wire Brewing in Asheville, North Carolina. Hi-Wire brews an Imperial Stout line called 10W-40, made with French Broad Chocolate cacao, Dynamite coffee, and Ugandan vanilla, as well as a range of other flavor ingredients to evoke specific flavor concepts like Vietnamese coffee, blueberry crumble, or chocolate taco. Listen in as Hank and Peter talk about the base beer for 10w-40 and how they work with coffee, cacao, and vanilla.

You can find out more about Hi-Wire Brewing here.

You can listen to my entire interview with Hank and Peter here.

Check out David's new book Pairing Beer & Chocolate: A Guide to Bringing the Flavors of Craft Beer and Craft Chocolate Together.

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While I mostly pair craft chocolate with craft beer here at Bean to Barstool, there's a world of great beverages out there for pairing with great chocolate. My good friend Shay Pal seems to have paired bars with most of them through her adventurous tasting and traveling. In this episode, Shay and I discuss how she approaches pairing with craft chocolate, how she avoids getting overwhelmed by the choices in front of her, and how she selects which spirit, wine, coffee, or cocktail to pair with any given bar.

This is a fun conversation filled with curiosity, a trait that defines Shay. Enjoy!

You can find her on Instagram as @choccoffeewine.

In the show we also mentioned our Instagram Live events with Argencove Chocolate. You can find both Live videos on Argencove's Instagram page.

You can also follow Estelle Tracy's adventures with pairing wine and chocolate on her Instagram page.

Finally, Shay has been on the show before! You can listen to a Bite Sized episode in which Shay and I discuss one of our favorite bars (Crow & Moss Vanilla Smoked) here.

Check out David's new book Pairing Beer & Chocolate: A Guide to Bringing the Flavors of Craft Beer and Craft Chocolate Together.

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IPAs are the most popular family of beer styles in craft beer today, they aren't the first beers most people think of for pairing with craft chocolate. While IPAs can pair beautifully with craft chocolate, it’s not an effortless pairing. IPAs present challenges that can lead to chocolate pairings with harsh, bitter, astringent, and/or clashing flavor qualities. In this bonus episode, we’ll look at some common styles of IPA, discuss their sensory attributes, and discuss chocolates to seek out and chocolates to avoid when planning pairings with each.

As mentioned in the episode, you can read more about hops here, or listen to a bonus episode explaining hops here.

Check out David's new book Pairing Beer & Chocolate: A Guide to Bringing the Flavors of Craft Beer and Craft Chocolate Together.

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There might not be a more loaded term in beer and chocolate than “craft.” What does it mean, who gets to use it, and who gets to decide who does or doesn’t fall under its umbrella? Is craft about size and ownership? Is it about processes and ingredients? Is it some other ineffable quality? There is no perfect answer, and the parameters and stakes are different for both beer and chocolate, but it’s a fascinating topic for discussion.

In this episode I’m talking with Clay Gordon, one of the most respected names in the world of craft chocolate, to discuss the meaning of craft, how the term’s usage and meaning differ in the beer and chocolate worlds, how tasting and judging have influenced beer and chocolate differently, and, toward the end, how we both approach chocolate pairings with beer and other beverages.

You can learn more about Clay and his work at his website The Chocolate Life.

You can watch/listen to his webcast Pod Save Chocolate here.

We did a follow-up to this episode on Pod Save, which you can listen to here.

You can purchase my book Pairing Beer & Chocolate: A Guide to Bringing the Flavors of Craft Beer and Craft Chocolate Together in the Bean to Barstool shop or on Amazon.

Check out David's new book Pairing Beer & Chocolate: A Guide to Bringing the Flavors of Craft Beer and Craft Chocolate Together.

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Moksa Brewing in Rocklin, California (just outside Sacramento), is one of the country's most prolific and best producers of Pastry Stouts. These usually high alcohol and high gravity Stouts use ingredients like cacao, coffee, vanilla, and others to recreate the flavors of beloved desserts or create whole new flavor concepts. Moksa's Pastry Stouts are indulgent but precise.

In this episode we talk with Moksa head brewer Cory Meyer about how he works with cacao, vanilla, and other adjunct ingredients, how he sources single origin examples, and how the Moksa team comes up with the concepts for these dessert beers.

You can find out more about Moksa Brewing and the beers they've created here.

Check out David's new book Pairing Beer & Chocolate: A Guide to Bringing the Flavors of Craft Beer and Craft Chocolate Together.

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My new book Pairing Beer & Chocolate: A Guide to Bringing the Flavors of Craft Beer and Craft Chocolate Together is out now, and you can get it from Bean to Barstool or Amazon!

In honor of the release, we’re talking today about how to host a beer and chocolate pairing at home. How do you plan it, how do you guide the event itself, and how do you give your friends a memorable evening with beer and chocolate? I’ve got you covered. Listen to this episode for all the information you need, and reach out if you have any questions!

You can find recommendations for specific pairings to incorporate here.

Want to hire me to run a pairing for you remotely? Get in touch.

Check out David's new book Pairing Beer & Chocolate: A Guide to Bringing the Flavors of Craft Beer and Craft Chocolate Together.

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