Welcome to Bean to Barstool

I grew up in a fundamentalist religion, and when I left as a young adult, it felt like I’d lost some invisible but essential internal organ or dexterous appendage. Over the following years, as I fell in love with craft beer and eventually bean to bar chocolate, and as I grew in my proficiency as a home cook, I noticed something curious happening: the role faith had once played in my young life of pushing me to explore my identity and experiences, contemplate my world, and experience wonder and connection to something bigger than myself was now transferring more and more to my senses. The quest for the eternal had become a celebration of the ephemeral.

My wife and I have traveled nationally and internationally in search of singular sensory experiences in the world of beer, and lately chocolate has become a distinct path within this pilgrimage. The Bean to Barstool podcast is an exploration of the sensory world through these two specific lenses. Think of it as a dream journal written in the complex alphabet of beer and the eloquent vocabulary of chocolate.

The podcast will launch in August 2020. Episodes of this podcast will dive into collaborations between breweries and chocolate makers, pairings between beer and chocolate, how these two worlds utilize similar flavor ingredients in different ways, and how our senses interact with each. Bring a sense of curiosity, an open mind, and an eagerness for new experiences. I’ll bring the beer and chocolate.