Favorite Beers & Chocolates of 2022 (Ep. 51)
In 2022 I attended the Craft Brewers Conference in Minneapolis, the Great American Beer Festival and Denver Rare Beer Tasting in Denver, traveled to Cleveland and Asheville for stories, and led events at Lady Justice Brewing and Branch & Bone Artisan Ales. I drank great beer and tasted great chocolate on the back patio at sunset in the summer and during a heavy snow storm in winter. It was a good year, and I’m excited to share with you here my favorite beers and chocolates from the last 12 months.
Join me for a look back at my favorite beers and chocolates of 2022. After you’ve listened to the show, I’d love to hear your own favorites from the last year.
In the episode, you’ll also hear favorites from some of my friends in the beer and chocolate worlds. Guests include:
Ruvani de Silva is a prolific and talented beer journalist living in Austin, Texas. She writes for Good Beer Hunting, the Burum Collective, and numerous other publications, and brings energy and insight to every conversation about beer and the culture around it. You can find her at https://craftbeeramethyst.com/ and on Twitter & Instagram.
Shay Pal runs the popular choccoffeewine Instagram account, and is an enthusiastic advocate for savoring chocolate with our favorite beverages. You can find her at https://www.choccoffeewine.com/.
You can listen to another quick conversation with Shay here.
Tristan Chan is the founder and editor-in-chief of Porchdrinking.com, as well as the founder of The Porch Collective, a craft beverage marketing company. He’s a tireless cheerleader for brewers, beer writers, and other folks in the beverage industry. You can follow him on Twitter & Instagram.
Dennis Malcolm Byron aka Ale Sharpton is a beer journalist, blogger, photographer, and consultant. Although a native New Yorker and a Cornell University alumnus, Ale proudly calls Atlanta his home. You can check out his website here, and follow him on Twitter and Instagram. You can also check out Piano Keys, his collaboration beer with New Belgium Brewing.
You can also listen to my interview with Ale back in Episode 41.
Hazel Lee is the Creator of Taste With Colour®: The Chocolate Tasting Flavour Map, an international chocolate judge, home bean to bar chocolate maker, and cocoa adventurer. Hazel judges chocolate awards, paints cacao pods, and takes part in chocolate events across the world . You can find her at tastewithcolour.com and on Instagram.
You can listen to my episode with Hazel in Episode 44.
Emily Stone is the Founder and CEO of Uncommon Cacao, a group of Transparent Trade cacao operations. Emily spent 2010-2017 living in Belize and Guatemala developing the specialty cacao value chain operations and working directly with producers. She works to ensure equity and quality in the cacao supply chain.
You can listen to my interview with Emily in Episode 45.
Em Sauter is an Advanced Cicerone®, cartoonist, author, beer reviewer, international beer judge, and public speaker who runs the award winning website Pints and Panels, which focuses on visual beer education. Her first book "Beer is for Everyone! (of Drinking Age)" was published in 2017 by One Peace Books. Her second book "Hooray for Craft Beer!" was released in April by Brewers Publications. Check out pintsandpanels.com and follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
You can listen to my interview with Em in Episode 39.
Luke Owen Smith is a writer, photographer, and professional chocolate taster based in Wellington, New Zealand. After working in the craft beer industry for many years, Luke fell in love with craft chocolate and founded The Chocolate Bar, New Zealand's first ever craft chocolate retail store. Luke is a regular judge at the New Zealand Chocolate Awards and he has written about both chocolate and beer for a wide variety of publications. You can find him on Instagram.
You can listen my interview with Luke in Episode 37.
Courtney Iseman is a beer writer who writes the excellent free newsletter Hugging the Bar. She writes for a variety of publications, and also offers brand consulting services. You can learn more about her at her website, where you can do yourself a favor and sign up for Hugging the Bar, and follow her on Instagram.
Other episodes and articles referenced include:
Wood, Beer, & Chocolate (Ep. 19)
The Imaginative Founders of Rabid Brewing (Ep. 29)
Crown of Horns Fit for a [goat] Queen (Ep. 43)
After the Harvest—Tracking a Beer from Grain to Glass at Seedstock Brewing in Denver, Colorado
The music for this episode was sampled from an instrumental version of the song “200 Miles”, written and performed by indie folk musician Anna ps from her 2016 album Umbrella. Anna p.s. conveys a sense of weariness throughout her simple yet resonant songs, but it’s a weariness that keeps a blanket of hope tucked up under its chin, even as the rain keeps falling outside the windows. You can find out more about Anna at her website.