Bean to Barstool

Firetree Chocolate in the UK has been making single origin dark chocolate from primarily Pacific island origins since launching in 2018, and they’re among my favorite single origin makers. As much as I love their complex bars, I also love their beautiful packaging, with its swirling colors and gold etching. Their motto is Rich Volcanic Chocolate, referencing the volcanic soil of the islands where their cacao is grown.

I sat down recently with Firetree’s chocolate maker Martyn O’Dare to talk about Firetree and making chocolate that respects the nuances of each cacao origin and the farmers who grew it. Listen in as Martyn shares the story of Firetree.

You can learn more about Firetree here.

You can order Firetree through Bar & Cocoa and receive 10% of your first order using this referral.

Click to order theFinal Gravity Issue 02, or to purchase tickets to the Virtual Belgian Strong Ale Tasting.

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Beer writer Beth Demmon has written a book called The Beer Lover’s Guide to Cider: American Ciders for Craft Beer Fans to Explore, published on September 12 by Mango Publishing. The book explores the potentially overwhelming variety of the modern cider scene through the lens of beer, relating cider varieties to major flavor groupings from craft beer. The format Beth chose for her guide allows readers to approach cider on their own terms, using familiar flavor references.

Cider has been brewed and enjoyed here in the U.S. for centuries, and there were points in the country’s history when cider was the preeminent beverage for the young nation. By the end of the twentieth century, however, cider has long since given way to beer, wine, and spirits. Like many other artisan food and beverage industries however, cider is experiencing a resurgence in popularity, and Beth is excited about where it's heading.

While reading The Beer Lover’s Guide to Cider, I was struck by the familiar observations made about cider as someone who came to that industry from beer—many of them echoed my own experiences exploring craft chocolate as a beer writer. In the following interview, Beth and I discuss her book, what cider and beer can learn from each other, and what it’s been like for both of us to explore other artisan industries parallel to our first love, beer. Listen in as we talk with author Beth Demmon.

Click the links to learn more about the American Cider Association and CiderCon.

Subscribe to Beth's excellent newsletter Prohibitchin' here.

Click to order the Pairing Beer & Chocolate zine and Final Gravity Issue 02, or to purchase tickets to the Virtual Belgian Strong Ale Tasting.

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The arrival of fall means the arrival of fall seasonal beer styles. Fortunately for us, fall beer styles like pumpkin beer and Oktoberfest can pair great with craft chocolate, and today we’re going to talk about some of my favorites and recommendations to check out.

Pumpkin ales, Märzen, Festbier, and even fresh hop and wet hop beers can be paired with craft chocolate. Listen to this bonus episode to learn which bean to bar chocolate bars will work best with each seasonal style.

Here's a quick guide to the differences between Oktoberfest lager styles.

Here's the link to the Beer Basics episode mentioned in this episode.

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A photo of a beer in a glass is a moment captured.

There's a new zine in the online shop that gets to the heart of what Bean to Barstool is all about. Beers Remembered is a short zine of brief vignettes reflecting on beers from the past few years. Each of the 18 entries features a full page photo of a memorable beer, and a page talking about the experience of drinking it.

These aren't beer reviews, though there might be a handful of tasting notes sprinkled throughout these short reflections. These are memories of everything that happened around the beer in the glass. Where they were enjoyed, and who was there, and what I was feeling at the time. What I feel when I come across each of those photos.

Sometimes when I'm photographing beer in a taproom a bystander will sarcastically ask if I'm going to drink it. Yeah, I am. But I'm going to make sure I remember it first, and I’m sharing those memories with you now in this little zine.

You can order the zine here.

Or you can subscribe at the Zinester level on Patreon and get this and the rest of our standalone zines, along with a subscription to Final Gravity.

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Most people associate mushrooms with savory foods, but that’s because many of us are unaware of both the wide flavor diversity of different types of mushrooms and the range of ways in which they can be incorporated into foods and beverages. Just a couple episodes back we talked with pastry chef and mixologist Michael George, who made an award-winning cocktail that incorporated black truffle mushrooms, and today we’re going to hear from a chocolate maker who offers a variety of craft chocolate bars using mushrooms, or what he calls, our little helpers.

Oliver Holecek co-founded Primo Chocolate—at the time known as Primo Botanica—in 2017 as a bean to bar company. The business has changed in process and focus over the years, as you’ll hear him explain in just a moment, and Primo is now heavily focused on incorporating mushrooms into chocolate as a way to promote the functional health benefits of these fungal friends.

Listen in as Oliver talks about the background of his business, his passion for mushrooms, and the importance of centering Indigenous cultures when working with natural ingredients.

The music for Bean to Barstool is by indie folk musician Anna ps. You can find out more about Anna’s music in the show notes or at her website annapsmusic.com, where you can also get in touch to book her to play at your brewery or other establishment.

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In today's episode of Bean to Barstool Bite Sized we talk with Anna Seear of Ritual Chocolate in Utah. Ritual brews a line of bars inspired by the surrounding Utah wilderness, and one of these bars honors Utah's nickname as The Beehive State. Ritual uses wildflower honey from local Hollow Tree Honey for this delightful bar. Listen in as Anna talks about how honey gets used in this bar and the importance of preserving and supporting pollinators.

You can listen to the entire episode on honey here.

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While brewers have long used cacao nibs for brewing chocolate beers, the pulp of the cacao fruit has been an unexplored resource due to its high perishability and cultural obscurity. Leila Carvajal Erker of Cocoa Supply wants to see that change. Her company is importing pasteurized cacao pulp from cacao farms in Ecuador and working with brewers to figure out how best it can be used in the brewing process.

In this episode we talk with Leila about Cocoa Supply’s cacao pulp products, 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.
You can check out all the links mentioned in this episode at our Linktree.

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Michael George is a bartender and pastry chef in Salt Lake City. They split their time between a couple different bars—you can find them on various nights at Water Witch, a James Beard-nominated bar, and Acme Bar Co. They bring a passion for flavor and story, their own vibrant personality, and the sensibility of their background in the kitchen to their drinks, in which they seek to both honor tradition and break through artificial barriers of what a drink can be. As a Black, queer, non-binary person, the barriers Michael is working to break down go far beyond just the strictures of what can go into a cocktail to encompass who gets to make that cocktail in the first place.

Michael recently won the prestigious Black Manhattan Contest put on by the Black Bourbon Society with two cocktails that tell amazing stories and push the boundaries of flavor. One of those drinks, which they named the Blackest in the Forest, was made using cacao and chocolate from Ritual, and tells the story of Michael’s roots—where they’ve been, where they are now, and where they’re going.

You can find a link to the recipe for Blackest in the Forest here and make it yourself at home!

Michael George is a Black, queer, and non-binary bartender, pastry chef, and artist. They are originally from Chicago, Illinois, but currently live and work in Salt Lake City, Utah. Michael finds inspiration for all of his creative endeavors from lived experiences and the world around them. They are passionate about being a vessel for which other people can learn about and lean into being their most authentic and fearless selves through creating and amplifying spaces for other Black, queer, and non-binary people.

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Michael George is a bartender and pastry chef in Salt Lake City. They split their time between a couple different bars—you can find them on various nights at Water Witch, a James Beard-nominated bar, and Acme Bar Co. They bring a passion for flavor and story, their own vibrant personality, and the sensibility of their background in the kitchen to their drinks, in which they seek to both honor tradition and break through artificial barriers of what a drink can be. As a Black, queer, non-binary person, the barriers Michael is working to break down go far beyond just the strictures of what can go into a cocktail to encompass who gets to make that cocktail in the first place.

Michael recently won the prestigious Black Manhattan Contest put on by the Black Bourbon Society with two cocktails that tell amazing stories and push the boundaries of flavor. One of those drinks, which they named the Blackest in the Forest, was made using cacao and chocolate from Ritual, and tells the story of Michael’s roots—where they’ve been, where they are now, and where they’re going.

You can find a link to the recipe for Blackest in the Forest here and make it yourself at home!

You can check out other links mentioned in this episode at our Linktree.

Michael George is a Black, queer, and non-binary bartender, pastry chef, and artist. They are originally from Chicago, Illinois, but currently live and work in Salt Lake City, Utah. Michael finds inspiration for all of his creative endeavors from lived experiences and the world around them. They are passionate about being a vessel for which other people can learn about and lean into being their most authentic and fearless selves through creating and amplifying spaces for other Black, queer, and non-binary people.

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Belgian Witbier and Bavarian Hefeweizen are both standard strength wheat ales with expressive fermentation flavors, and while they hail from different national traditions, pairing guidance for both with craft chocolate is pretty similar.

Despite the intriguing flavors of these beers, they are fairly light bodied and delicate, and they get bullied around by bolder chocolates. So what types of chocolate should you pair with them?

Listen is an Advanced Cicerone David Nilsen, author of Pairing Beer & Chocolate, describes these styles and recommends craft chocolate bars to pair with them.

You can order Pairing Beer & Chocolate here.

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