Rabid Brewing in Homewood, Illinois, just announced they will be moving to a new, larger location and adding a kitchen, dining room, private event space, and patio. At a time when breweries are facing increasing challenges, Rabid founders Raiye Rosado and Tobias Cichon are dreaming big.

Scott Watson brewed craft beer before becoming a craft chocolate maker with Loon Chocolate, a bean to bar chocolate company. He sees a lot of overlap between the industries, especially on the sensory side.

The strong German lager style Doppelbock can pair beautifully with craft chocolate. Its rich malt flavors allow it to pair with several bean to bar chocolate types. Here’s Bean to Barstool’s guide to pairing Doppelbock with chocolate.

It was a full year for the Bean to Barstool craft beer and bean to bar chocolate podcast. Here’s all of our episodes from 2023!

The favorite craft beers of 2023 from beer writer and Advanced Cicerone David Nilsen.

The favorite craft chocolates of 2023 from beer writer and Advanced Cicerone David Nilsen.

The favorite beer and chocolate pairings of 2023 from beer writer and Advanced Cicerone David Nilsen.

Tyler Cagwin of Nostalgia Chocolate loves craft beer as much as chocolate, and he’s brought the two together in his Hop Aged 70% dark chocolate bar aged on Chinook hops.

Beer and chocolate have an agriculture problem. The problem, of course, isn’t the agriculture of these products itself—the agricultural traditions and innovations that make beer and chocolate possible are robust and thriving. The problem is the invisibility of that agriculture, and the impact that invisibility has on the public understanding of both products.

Learning about bean to bar chocolate origins or craft beer styles can be confusing, and rigid definitions and guidelines can be helpful. They can also limit our understanding of nuance and variation. How can we use them without being bound by them?

In a small room at Allagash Brewing Company in Portland, Maine, sits a coolship, a vessel for cooling wort in the open air. Each year on All Hallows Eve, that wort will be laden with the essence of crushed pumpkins and molasses, and the invisible lifeforms haunting the Allagash coolship room will descend upon a steaming seasonal liquid to make their contribution to one of the most unusual pumpkin beers in the country.

Jolly Pumpkin La Parcela is not your typical pumpkin beer. Brewed with pumpkin, pumpkin spices, and cacao nibs, this mixed-fermentation, sour, oak-aged pumpkin ale is a fall beer for folks who don’t think they like pumpkin spice beers.

Brewers have long used cacao nibs in a variety of beer styles to create or accent chocolatey flavors. Cocoa Supply, a company started in Ecuador, is now importing shelf-stable cacao fruit pulp, hoping to turn brewers on to parts—and flavors—of the cacao fruit that have previously been unavailable in North America.

Third Eye Brewing Double Astral is an Imperial Stout brewed with cacao nibs from Maverick Chocolate. It’s a familiar concept, but it’s beautifully executed in this Great American Beer Festival gold medal-winner.

What do hops and cacao have in common when it comes to terroir?

The Great American Beer Festival and Denver Rare Beer Tasting give craft beer fans the chance to taste some of the best beers in the country, including many chocolate beers brewed with cacao. Here were Bean to Barstool host David Nilsen’s favorites.

Pumpkin beer and craft chocolate can pair beautifully together! Here’s Bean to Barstool host David Nilsen’s guide to pairing pumpkin beer and chocolate, with specific bars to check out!

Coffee and chocolate have a lot in common. Hans Westerink at Cloud Walking Coffee & Violet Sky Chocolate in South Bend, Indiana, is one of several makers working with both ingredients and bringing them together in creative ways.

Craft beer and craft chocolate have a lot in common. Here are 10 things craft beer fans are often surprised to learn about bean to bar chocolate.

What are hops, how are they used in brewing beer, and what tastes, flavors, and aromas do they contribute? Advanced Cicerone David Nilsen explains the basics of hops.