Beer Chocolates from the Chocolate Conspiracy
$12, eatchocolateconspiracy.com
This Salt Lake City chocolatier came onto our radar via writer David Nilsen (a contributor to Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine® and the Brewing Industry Guide), and once we had a chance to taste the chocolates themselves, we were hooked. Flavorwise, it’s easy to let the bitterness in beer overwhelm adjacent, more delicate notes in sweet treats, but the Chocolate Conspiracy deftly weaves beer into these bars while maintaining a light, airy texture in the bars themselves. Along with honey as a sweetener, it gives the bars a light, earthy, natural feel, with subtle beery top-notes that accent more than drive. The three versions each use a different style of beer from different breweries—black lager, double IPA, and coffee cream ale—so you can find one that fits your mood, whether that’s spicy, sweet, or strong. While you’re at it, pick up a copy of Nilsen’s Pairing Beer & Chocolate zine, available at beantobarstool.com.
Salt & Straw’s Brewers Series of Collaboration Ice Creams
Limited release, no longer for sale, saltandstraw.com
You had us at beer and ice cream, but if that weren’t enough, the combination of leading- edge creative creamery Salt & Straw and the five incredible brewers they tapped for this tasty project makes it absolutely irresistible. Each brewer leans in with a style for which they’re well known, while the makers at Salt & Straw work their typical magic—taking the concept behind Monkish Space Cookies hazy IPA and turning it into Space Cookies & Cream or blending Russian River’s sour cherry–infused Supplication with fudge, manchego cheese, and cherry marmalade. Breakside’s Chocolate Barrel-Aged Stout ice cream hits from all angles, its chocolate chunks infused with stout, then the beer they used folded into the ice-cream base itself. Two others, from Seattle’s Métier and Miami’s Cerveceria La Tropical, offer similar cleverness in flavor heightened by thoughtful techniques. The only drawback to the project is the limited nature of the release—its time came and went. Here’s to hoping that Salt & Straw make it an annual event.
—J.B.
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Final Gravity: A Beer Zine
A zine? About beer? Sign us up. David Nilsen’s labor of love is an outlet for the kinds of articles that writers believe ought to be written—a print version of the quasi- mythical brewery that makes only what brewers want to drink. Want one for your bar? Nilsen will laminate it for you, free of charge. Order an issue ($11) or subscribe ($42) at beantobarstool.com/final-gravity-zine.
Brewery History
We love going down rabbit holes—we do it multiple times every issue!—and serious history is as alluring to us as the latest research on hop compounds or yeast genetics. Some of the best comes from the Brewery History Society’s journal, based in Britain but featuring articles on brewing’s past anywhere. Membership is £45 ($58) for overseas, £33 for U.K. residents, or £15 for digital-only. Sign up at breweryhistory.com.
Finding the Joy
Beer is still fun, right? For what might’ve been the final episode of the Good Beer Hunting podcast, Kate Bernot and Beth Demmon (in transparency, both frequent contributors to Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine®) speak to attendees of the 2024 Firestone Walker Invitational, on a personal quest to rediscover the joy. It makes for a great listen—reminding us, in the end, what this beer and brewing stuff is really all about. Find it at goodbeerhunting.com/gbh-podcast.
—J.S. & J.B.