Today we're talking with Jason Brewer and Zac Boehnke of Wandering Monsters Brewing in Cincinnati, Ohio. While they brew a wide variety of beers well, they're best known for excellent adjunct stouts like Viator Obscura: Triple Chocolate, which has medaled at both Great American Beer Festival and World Beer Cup.

In this episode, Jason and Zac talk about how they approach brewing with cacao nibs, vanilla, and other ingredients, how their high concept adjunct stouts come together, where they source their cacao, and why beers of this type are worth taking seriously and approaching thoughtfully.

You can check out the Wandering Monsters site here, or follow them on Instagram.

You can listen to previous episodes mentioned in this episode here: Ethereal Confections, Somerville Chocolate, Front Porch Chocolate, Third Eye Brewing.

You can check out the events mentioned in the episode here: Full Circle Brewgarden, Belgian-Style Ales.

Interview timeline:

2:25 - How beer recipes are developed with adjuncts and barrels in mind
4:50 - Viator Obscura: Triple Chocolate
6:35 - Cacao husks
7:25 - Cacao origin selection
10:15 - Banana Caboose
14:25 - Storytelling with adjunct stouts
15:50 - Brownie Stout, other beers
17:15 - Vanilla
18:45 - Wandering Monsters branding
22:30 - Marketing adjunct stouts
24:15 - Their favorite of their own adjunct stouts
27:15 - Advice for other brewers on working with cacao and other adjuncts
29:00 - Brewing pastry stouts thoughtfully
33:20 - End of interview

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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Bean to Barstool Redux: Vintage but still relevant conversations from the archives without all the extra narration. Just classic interviews from really cool people in craft chocolate, craft beer, and other food and beverage fields.

In this edition, we hear from Emily Stone, founder of Uncommon Cacao, who supplies cacao for hundreds of bean to bar chocolate makers and, indirectly through their bean to bar partners, quite a few craft breweries as well.

We talk with Emily about those origins, what led her to start Uncommon, and the importance of full, two-way transparency in the cacao supply chain.

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.

Welcome to Bean to Barstool Bite Sized, where we spend about 5 minutes on a specific topic in craft beer, craft chocolate, or artisan drinks. Today we're looking back at one of the first deep dives I ever did on pairing beer and chocolate for Bean to Barstool. Enjoy!

You can listen to the entire episode this clip is from here.

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 month, London Coe of Peace on Fifth in Dayton, Ohio, will celebrate the tenth annual Global Black Chocolate Makers Month. It's an opportunity to promote the work of Black craft chocolate makers from outside the U.S., and introduce tasters here to makers and, in some case, ingredients they might not be familiar with.

In this episode of Bean to Barstool, David Nilsen and London discuss the importance of Global Black Chocolate Makers Month, what we gain when we have tasting experiences that push us outside our comfort zones, and the makers she'll be promoting throughout February.

The makers highlighted in this episode include Eka Chocolate from Madagascar, One One Cacao from Jamaica (listen to my previous interview with Nick Davis of One One here), Afrikoa from South Africa, Zacao from Ghana, '57 Chocolate from Ghana, and Ayitika from Haiti, among others.

Peace on Fifth's Instagram

Peace on Fifth's website

Episode timeline (approximate):

1:00 - Introduction
2:30 - Global Black Chocolate Makers Month
6:05 - How GBCMM got started
14:20 - Value of makers and voices
21:15 - Eka Chocolate and other highlighted makers
34:25 - What story is GBCMM telling?
37:45 - News and notes
46:55 - End

Here you can find info and tickets for my upcoming beer and chocolate pairings at Third Eye Brewing and Full Circle Brewgarden.

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!
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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.

Bean to Barstool Redux: Vintage but still relevant conversations from the archives without all the extra narration. Just classic interviews from really cool people in craft chocolate, craft beer, and other food and beverage fields.

In this edition, we hear from Kjartan Gíslason, a co-founder of Omnom Chocolate in Reykjavik, Iceland. Omnom is known not only for their delicious and creative bean to bar chocolate, but for the colorful packaging and marketing that presents the spirit of Omnom to consumers.

We talk with Kjartan about that spirit behind Omnom, as well as their collaborations with Reykjavik craft breweries on both chocolates and beers, and the use of flavors distinct to Icelandic culture in their bars.

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!
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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.

Ale Sharpton, a legendary beer writer from Atlanta celebrating his 30th year in the craft beer industry in 2026, is back with the latest version of his Piano Keys chocolate vanilla imperial stout collab, this time with Creature Comforts. The beer celebrates diversity in the brewing industry, both in terms of flavors and the people brewing and enjoying them. The beer uses Ecuadorian cacao nibs from Condor Chocolate, three different types of vanilla, and fonio, an African grain that's been getting a lot of buzz in the beer industry of late.

In this bonus episode, David Nilsen talks with Ale and with Blake Tyers of Creature Comforts about this new edition of Piano Keys stout.

You can also listen to the original interview from 2022 here.

Here's where you can check out more about the collab partners:

Ale Sharpton: Website | Instagram | Piano Keys Instagram

Creature Comforts: Website | Instagram

Condor Chocolate: Website | Instagram

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.

"Language and food are the two vehicles that can help people understand each other better."

That's Liang Wang, co-founder and chocolate maker at KESSHŌ Chocolate in Austin, Texas. KESSHŌ makes craft chocolate bars inspired by Asian cuisine and ingredients. These bars open up worlds to the curious taster that might otherwise have remained closed.

I met Liang in person for the first time at the Midwest Craft Chocolate Festival in November, and was pleased sit down with her recently to talk about how these concepts are created, and how flavor can bridge cultural divides to speak to something deeper in our shared humanity, something more important now than ever.

You can learn more about KESSHŌ Chocolate on their website, or follow them on Instagram.

You can listen to my episode with Estelle Tracy about pairing with tea here, and our episode in which we paired KESSHŌ's Lamb Skewer bar 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!
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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.

In this quick bonus episode, host David Nilsen talks with Jake Potter, founder and chocolate maker at Red Rock Chocolate in Utah. They talk about the upcoming inaugural Red Rock Region Chocolate and Fine Foods Festival in Hurricane, Utah, discussing vendors, classes, and other things to expect at the fest.

You can get all the details about the festival here, and follow the festival on Instagram 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!
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.