Bean to Barstool

This is the third in a four-part bonus series called Collaborations for Chocolate Makers. In the series, we'll walk through different types of possible collaborations and how craft chocolate makers should go about them.
Today we’re going to talk about an opportunity for collaboration that I think is wildly underutilized in craft chocolate: Craft chocolate makers collaborating on products with other craft chocolate makers. 
In this episode, we talk about the untapped potential of collaborations within craft chocolate. We discuss the unique advantages of these collabs, examples of how these chocolate collaborations can work, how to approach them, occasions for collabs, and particular things to consider before embarking on one.

Collaboration for Chocolate Makers series:
Podcast Episodes
Why Do It, and General Considerations
Collaborating with Beverage Alcohol Producers
Collaborating with Other Craft Chocolate Makers (you're listening to it)
Creative Collaborations to Consider (coming soon)

Blog Posts
Why It’s Worth It, and Things To Consider
Collaborating with Beverage Alcohol Producers, and Drinks-Based Collabs
Chocolate-Based Collabs with Beverage Alcohol Producers
Collaborating with Other Craft Chocolate Makers (coming soon)
Creative Collaborations to Consider (coming soon)

Check out David's book Pairing Beer & Chocolate: A Guide to Bringing the Flavors of Craft Beer and Craft Chocolate Together.

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My friends Scott Fielder & Chris Crowe have spent the past few years publicly documenting their quest to pass the Master Cicerone exam. In late 2025, Scott Fielder became just the 29th Master Cicerone in the world. Chris, his best friend and partner in this process, came close to doing the same, and is more determined than ever to pass the exam in 2026. 
I sat down with Scott and Chris recently to talk about how their pursuit of knowledge through these certifications has impacted their experience and enjoyment of beer. We also talk about the vulnerability of sharing their exam preparation as publicly as they have, and how we can provide consumers with useful information without gatekeeping and using exclusionary descriptive language. 
You can follow Scott & Chris here:
Scott's Instagram
At Your Service's Instagram
Chris's Instagram
The Beer Enthusiasts Instagram
The Beer Enthusiasts Youtube channel
Here you can find the past episodes mentioned in today's conversation:
Episode 1: Personal Flavor Vocabularies
Episode 16: Cultural Beer Language with Dr. J
Episode 39: Everybody Is Welcome—Celebrating Beer with Em Sauter
Guests:
Scott Fielder hails from Long Beach, CA. He is the Quality and Education Lead at The Bruery in Placentia, CA, a beer educator with The Beer Scholar, Certified BJCP Judge, GABF judge, and a Master Cicerone. He is also a partner in the Beer pop up concept At Your Service with Advanced Cicerones Chris Crowe and Charlie Perez, as well as the co-host of The Beer Enthusiasts YouTube channel. 
Chris Crowe is an Advanced Cicerone®, Director of Sales at the award-winning Radiant Beer Co., and resident beer nerd at the world-renowned Windsor Homebrew Supply. Chris co-hosts The Beer Enthusiasts with Master Cicerone® Scott Fielder, where they have published over 75 episodes of educational beer content between Instagram Live and YouTube. Chris founded At Your Service, a series of service-forward pop-ups focused on historical, cultural, and reimagined methods of serving beer with Scott and Advanced Cicerone® Charlie Perez. Chris wants to encourage you to #drinkmoredoppelbock and assures you that there is little to no resistance to doing so.
Check out David's book Pairing Beer & Chocolate: A Guide to Bringing the Flavors of Craft Beer and Craft Chocolate Together.

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Elmer Pineda and his family grow cacao and make tree to bar chocolate in the mountains of Honduras. Taking their company name from the Volcanic crater lake where their chocolate factory is located, Yojoa Chocolate makes classic two-ingredient bars, as well as a range of inclusion bars that celebrate the agricultural bounty of their corner of the world. When I connected with Elmer over Zoom recently, a tropical rain storm was drenching his property, and you might even be able to hear it in our conversation. 
In this interview we talk about the background of Yojoa Chocolate and their cacao farm, the natural landscape that provides so much flavor and inspiration to Yojoa’s bars, the importance of not only fermentation but carefully controlled drying in flavor formation, and some of Yojoa’s unique inclusion bars, like Espresso and Anis Avocado. 
You can learn more about Yojoa on their website or their Instagram.
Episode timeline (approximate):
2:00 - Introduction
3:30 - Yojoa summary and background
10:10 - Local microclimate
13:50 - The power of tree to bar
18:05 - Fermentation and drying
25:40 - Espresso bar
29:05 - Anis Avocado bar
33:30 - Whisky Barrel bar
39:25 - Packaging and artwork
40:40 - The story Yojoa is telling

Check out David's book Pairing Beer & Chocolate: A Guide to Bringing the Flavors of Craft Beer and Craft Chocolate Together.

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Sign up for host David Nilsen's beer newsletter for regular beer musings, and the Bean to Barstool newsletter for pairings, collaborations, and maker profiles.

This is the second in a four-part bonus series called Collaborations for Chocolate Makers. In the series, we'll walk through different types of possible collaborations and how craft chocolate makers should go about them.
You can check out the first episode in the series here, or read it in blog form here.
In this second episode, we're talking all about craft chocolate collaborations with breweries, distilleries, wineries, and other beverages alcohol producers. We discuss the benefits of the collaborations, potential product ideas, how to approach potential collab partners in this space, and things to consider beforehand.
If you have any thoughts, questions, or suggestions from this episode, please feel free to reach out!
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!
Instagram
Facebook
Pinterest

Sign up for host David Nilsen's beer newsletter for regular beer musings, and the Bean to Barstool newsletter for pairings, collaborations, and maker profiles.

Mike King at Encore Coffee and Chocolate in Kansas City is currently making some of the best coffee-infused craft chocolate bars on the market. I’ve had the chance to talk with Mike at the Midwest Craft Chocolate Festival the past couple years, and we were finally able to connect for a conversation for Bean to Barstool a couple weeks ago. 
We talk all about the overlap between these worlds, what he’s learned about each from the other, how sourcing and roasting and flavor formulation differs between them, and how he creates the delicious coffee infused bars like Cafe Mocha, Vanilla Latte, and Caramel Macchiato in his Coffee House Series. 
You can learn more about Encore at their website and Instagram.
You can find previous coffee-themed episodes here:
Osito Coffee, Violet Sky Chocolate, and Cloud Walking Coffee
Onyx Coffee
Namesake Coffee

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!
Instagram
Facebook
Pinterest

Sign up for host David Nilsen's beer newsletter for regular beer musings, and the Bean to Barstool newsletter for pairings, collaborations, and maker profiles.