Chocolate has long been viewed as a childhood treat or a pick-me-up on a bad day rather than an agriculturally-rooted, craft-driven product displaying variety and nuance. A new wave of craft chocolate makers are doing for the chocolate world what craft brewers have done for American beer. And the really good news? Beer and chocolate pair great together. In this presentation, beer writer and Bean to Barstool creator and host David Nilsen will share everything you need to start a beer and chocolate pairing program at your brewery.

David will discuss how the flavors of beer and chocolate can pair together and walk through the logistical and technical details of setting up both stand-alone pairing events and an ongoing retail pairing program. Along the way, he’ll discuss the partnership opportunities with bean to bar and other craft chocolate makers, and how these can be utilizing in marketing and parlayed into other forms of collaboration.

David Nilsen is a beer writer living near Dayton, Ohio. He is an Advanced Cicerone and an award-winning member of the North American Guild of Beer Writers, as well as a member of the National Book Critics Circle. In 2020, he created Bean to Barstool, a podcast and blog celebrating the intersections of craft beer and craft chocolate. He leads beer and chocolate pairings at breweries and bars, and in 2021 published the Pairing Beer & Chocolate zine, the only printed guide to pairing beer and chocolate, and the zine was included in Forbes’ year-end list of the best beer and booze books of 2022.