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Cacao Farming & Fermentation with Sarah Bharath, Part 1
Cacao agronomist Sarah Bharath has become one of my closest friends in the craft chocolate world, and she's been on Bean to Barstool a couple times before. (You can listen to those conversations here and here.) Today I'm sharing the first of a two part conversation Sarah and I had recently about cacao farming and fermentation. Rather than getting technical (though there is certainly a lot of science here), the conversation was more philosophical, as we discuss the challenges and opportunities offered by small-holder farms in the cacao space. Farmers need to make money to live, and that means efficiency and predictability are easy to prioritize. But those goals might be at odds with soil health, long-term plant health, and the ultimately goals of cacao production: flavor and complexity. How do we reconcile these? And what do we do with the tension in craft chocolate and other artisan food and drink industries between the romance of terroir and agricultural variability and the need for consistency and agronomic predictability?Listen in as Sarah and I discuss these topics! Check out David's book Pairing Beer & Chocolate: A Guide to Bringing the Flavors of Craft Beer and Craft Chocolate Together.Follow Bean to Barstool on social media!InstagramFacebookPinterestSign up for host David Nilsen's beer newsletter for regular beer musings, and the Bean to Barstool newsletter for pairings, collaborations, and maker profiles.
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1:25:29
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1:25:29
Angi of ChocolateSpiel on Color and Pairing
Angi at ChocolateSpiel takes visual appreciation of chocolate to a new level, using color to make each of her chocolate bars an edible piece of art. Her colorful bars are eye-catching, and they invite folks to try bean to bar chocolate who might not otherwise have taken the plunge.In this episode I talk with Angi about how and why she uses chocolate as a canvas for color, as well as pairing chocolate with beer, cider, wine, coffee, tea, and cocktails. Spiel means “game” or “play” in German, and ChocolateSpiel is all about having fun with chocolate! Founded by Angi—a chemical engineer turned chocolatier—she took one spark of inspiration during a factory tour (where chocolate machines reminded her of her old paint equipment) and turned it into a whimsical reality. From bean-to-bar creations to bonbons and nut spreads, every dairy-free treat is a colorful, playful twist on chocolate craft.You can learn more about Chocolate Spiel and order their bars here. Check out David's book Pairing Beer & Chocolate: A Guide to Bringing the Flavors of Craft Beer and Craft Chocolate Together.Follow Bean to Barstool on social media!InstagramFacebookPinterestSign up for host David Nilsen's beer newsletter for regular beer musings, and the Bean to Barstool newsletter for pairings, collaborations, and maker profiles.
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37:13
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37:13
Kumi Arhin of Ofori Brothers Wine
Kumi Arhin is doing something new in wine: he's bringing the flavors of his homeland in Ghana to American wine, offering a Riesling made with Lake Erie region grapes accented by Ghanaian ginger. His innovative Ofori Brothers Wine honors winemaking tradition but caters to members of the West African diaspora in the U.S., providing familiar flavors that speak of home. The name Ofori Brothers harkens back to his family's background in cocoa production in Ghana in the early twentieth century. The Ofori brothers were quire successful in that trade, and he wanted to honor them with this new project. Kumi recently won Crafted For Action's Crafted Fellows microgrant competition, and he has more unique wines planned (a rosé with hibiscus is on the horizon).In this interview, Kumi talks about how his family's legacy in cacao has impacted his current venture in wine, the significance of including a flavor ingredient from Ghana in a American wine and how that helps him reach new audiences, and the importance of storytelling along the way.You can learn more about Ofori Brothers Wine and order bottles here.Guest:Kumi Arhin is a Ghanaian-American entrepreneur, engineer, and founder of Ofori Brothers Wine, a brand that redefines premium wine through the bold, expressive flavors of Africa. Inspired by his family’s legacy in Ghana’s early cocoa trade, Kumi blends heritage with innovation to craft culturally rooted, sensorially distinct wines. His debut release, a ginger-infused Riesling, launched at the beginning of 2025, quickly sold out, and recently won the top prize at the Crafted for Action pitch competition.By day, Kumi works at the intersection of technology and culture as a Partner Engineer at YouTube Music. He previously founded a Y Combinator-backed edtech startup that reached over a million users globally. A Columbia University alum with a background in software engineering and product design, Kumi now channels his technical and entrepreneurial experience into building a wine label that connects diasporic legacy, flavor, and storytelling. Check out David's book Pairing Beer & Chocolate: A Guide to Bringing the Flavors of Craft Beer and Craft Chocolate Together.Follow Bean to Barstool on social media!InstagramFacebookPinterestSign up for host David Nilsen's beer newsletter for regular beer musings, and the Bean to Barstool newsletter for pairings, collaborations, and maker profiles.
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37:27
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37:27
Pairing Tea and Chocolate with Estelle Tracy
In this episode, chocolate pairing expert Estelle Tracy walks us through making various loose leaf teas and pairing them with craft chocolate. Along the way, she explains what tea is and the basics of different common types of good tea.Teas tasted and paired in this episode: Highland white tea, Jade oolong, Matcha, Hojicha, Genmaicha, and Honey black.You can learn more about Estelle at her 37 Chocolates website.Estelle has been on Bean to Barstool a few times before! You can listen to us talk about pairing with craft chocolate with beer and wine here, and you can listen to our 100th episode in which we discuss pairing particularly challenging bars with beer and wine here. Check out David's book Pairing Beer & Chocolate: A Guide to Bringing the Flavors of Craft Beer and Craft Chocolate Together.Follow Bean to Barstool on social media!InstagramFacebookPinterestSign up for host David Nilsen's beer newsletter for regular beer musings, and the Bean to Barstool newsletter for pairings, collaborations, and maker profiles.
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1:22:32
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1:22:32
The Award-Winning Chocolate Beers of Third Eye Brewing
Third Eye Brewing Company, with locations in Sharonville and Hamilton on the north side of Cincinnati, have won numerous awards at the Great American Beer Festival, World Beer Cup, and many other beer competitions. Led by brewmaster Kelly Montgomery, they've medaled in styles as diverse as Scotch Ale, Pumpkin Beer, and Milk Stout, but they've had particular success with chocolate beers. Their Double Astral Chocolate Imperial Milk Stout won gold as the best chocolate beer in the country at GABF in 2023.In May 2025, I led an event with Kelly at Third Eye's Hamilton location called Chocolate, Beer, & Chocolate Beer. We led attendees through a tasting of Double Astral and Dark Aura (a chocolate peanut butter Imperial Stout), and a pairing of two of Third Eye's non-chocolate beers (details below) with two craft chocolates, before a tour of the brewery and the barrel cellar.In this episode, Kelly and I talk about brewing with cacao, working with Maverick Chocolate and Violet Sky Chocolate, collaborating with River North Brewery in Denver, writing beer recipes with cacao or barrel-aging in mind, and pairing with craft chocolate. Listen in as one of the best brewers of adjunct stouts in the country shares his expertise!You can learn more about Third Eye Brewing on their website, or follow them on Instagram.Beers discussed in this episode include:Double Astral—10.8% Imperial Stout brewed with Madagascar Bourbon vanilla, Violet Sky Haitian cacao nibs, an lactose.Dark Aura—10.4% Imperial Stout brewed with Maverick Haitian cacao nibs and peanut butter.Celestial Death—10.2% Black Barleywine brewed with TCHO Ghana cacao nibs, in collaboration with River North Brewery.Pairings from the Chocolate, Beer, & Chocolate Beer event:First Pairing:Beer: Funky Fresh v.9—4% fruited sour with passionfruit, prickly pear, and pineapple.Chocolate: Theo & Philo 65% Philippine Dark Chocolate with Green Mango and Salt.Second Pairing:Beer: Jelly Brain v.1—7.2% Milkshake IPA with pineapple and toasted coconut.Chocolate: Definite 75% Dominican Republic Finca Elvesia Dark Chocolate with Dominican Rum. Check out David's book Pairing Beer & Chocolate: A Guide to Bringing the Flavors of Craft Beer and Craft Chocolate Together.Follow Bean to Barstool on social media!InstagramFacebookPinterestSign up for host David Nilsen's beer newsletter for regular beer musings, and the Bean to Barstool newsletter for pairings, collaborations, and maker profiles.
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46:48
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46:48