Maple is intimately tied to life in eastern North America, and in today’s episode, you’ll hear from Canadian and American bean to bar chocolate makers and American craft brewers who use maple sap, sugar, and syrup local to their areas in thoughtful, nuanced chocolates and beers. All of them had memories that tied the flavor of maple into the stories of their lives, and in this episode you’ll hear how evocative the smells and flavors of maple can be.

So many evocative flavors and aromas come from trees without us really thinking about them that way. Cinnamon is a tree bark. Maple syrup comes from tree sap. In the adult beverage world, the quinine that gives bitterness to tonic water and the angostura that flavors the eponymous bitters are both from trees. And of course there are endless variations in smoke aromas, including in beer and chocolate. In this episode we explore the flavor of wood and other tree ingredients in bean to bar chocolate and craft beer.

In this episode, we talk with Xoco by Corina, a bean to bar maker who is partnering with Lervig Beer, a prominent Norwegian craft brewery, to create 3 Bean Stout Chocolate, a 70% dark chocolate bar that is perhaps more evocative of the Amazon than the Arctic, but nonetheless demonstrates the tapestry of influences that make beer and chocolate so exciting.

Maverick Chocolate in Cincinnati recently collaborated with Sam Adams on Black Forest Gateau, a strong and elegant Imperial Stout brewed with cherry and cacao and aged in bourbon barrels. In this episode we talk with a Maverick founder and a Sam Adams brewer about this indulgent beer.

As craft beer works to be more inclusive, the language we use to describe beer needs to be examined. In this episode Dr. J Nikol Jackson-Beckham talks about where cultural biases are found in beer language and how we can learn to use descriptive sensory language to welcome newcomers and learn from others.

Springdale Beer recently partnered with Taza Chocolate for a special variant of their Brig Mocha Stout brewed with Öko Caribe cacao from the Dominican Republic and Red Barn coffee. Listen to this quick bonus episode to learn more about the beer!

Sara Ratza loves plants. She got into chocolate making after getting into herbal medicine, and she brings that plant wisdom and love for green, growing things to the art of chocolate making at Ratza Chocolate. Listen in as she talks about her philosophy behind using these botanical ingredients.

The use of chocolate in beer and vice versa goes beyond adding cacao nibs to a Porter or Stout or infusing a dark chocolate with the same styles. Hear from a brewer & a chocolate maker going way beyond the basics for chocolate & beer crossovers.

Have you ever tasted smoked chocolate? Bean to bar chocolate makers are finding creative ways to infuse cacao with a diverse array of smoke flavors, and we taste several of them in this episode.

Craft brewers and bean to bar chocolate makers are using coffee in exciting ways in their creations. Here we talk to brewers, chocolate makers, and coffee roasters and the synergies between these culinary arts.

Join me for a look back at my favorite beers and chocolates of 2020, with some pairings along the way. After you’ve listened to the show, I’d love to hear your own favorites from this bizarre trip around the sun.

As I fell in love with craft beer and bean to bar chocolate, 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.

When highly creative brewers and chocolate makers come together for collaborations, the results can be magical. Hear from the minds behind Branch & Bone Artisan Ales & Violet Sky Chocolate about their partnership and what fuels their creativity.

Malt is the foundational ingredient of beer, but it’s an afterthought for most craft beer fans. A new group of small, artisan malt houses are returning character to brewing malt, and that malt is popping up in unexpected places—including bean to bar chocolate bars.

Many brewers who use cacao in a beer have no idea where that cacao is coming from, or any of its more nuanced flavor notes. More and more brewers are recognizing the flavor diversity of good chocolate and the benefits of working with a bean to bar chocolate company to source ethical, quality cacao.

Beers and chocolates featuring smoke or spice flavors require graceful dance partners that can both set them free and keep them on beat. Find some great examples in this episode.

Many brewers and chocolate makers infuse their creations with ingredients and flavors from their own cultural backgrounds, allowing them to share their memories and cultures with consumers.

Smoke is one of the most evocative aromas in the world. It can be found in abundance in the world of craft beer, and it’s making its way into more and more bean to bar chocolate as well.

Beer and chocolate make graceful dance partners if we just give them the right music and room to move.

A brewery and a chocolate maker in Asheville, North Carolina, are creating beautiful new flavors together.