Honey in Brewing Beer and Making Chocolate

Honey bees are so cool. A honey bee worker lives for just 5 or 6 weeks during the summer, but in that time she’ll fly about 500 miles visiting 20,000 individual flowers. She’ll fly until her wings literally start to fail and fall off, and by the end of her life she’ll have made about a 1/12 of a teaspoon of honey. There were several beverages in antiquity that were fermented from honey, many of which have survived today. Mead is fermented entirely from honey, while braggot is basically a hybrid of beer and mead. In recent history, Belgian brewers have proven adept at brewing biere de miel, less a style than a group of beers that incorporate honey. And from there, modern craft brewers have started putting honey into more and more styles.In today’s episode we talk with professionals who work in honey, beer, and chocolate about the use of honey in our favorite indulgences.Timeline of interviews:6:50-23:20, 38:25-51:35, 1:07:00-1:07:45  - Keith Seiz & Alison Conklin from the National Honey Board23:20-33:57 - Danny Connors from Rogue Ales51:35-1:06:45 - Anna Seear from Ritual ChocolateChocolate bars discussed in this episode include Ritual Honeycomb Toffee, Ritual Pine Nut, Ritual Aprés, and Ritual Lavender Juniper.Beers and breweries discussed in this episode include Rogue Honey Kolsch and Cascade Brewing.You can learn more about the Honey Beer Competition and enter your commercial beers here.You can learn more about GloryBee and order their honey here.You can learn more about Hollow Tree Honey and order their honey here.The music for this episode was sampled from an instrumental version of the song “Free” written and performed by indie folk musician Anna ps from her 2016 album of the same name. You can find out more about Anna at her website.Guests:Alison Conklin joined the National Honey Board’s Ingredient Marketing Team in 2016. She enjoys her time traveling the country educating food and beverage manufacturers about using honey and is always ready to conduct a honey tasting or talk about her favorite furry little friends, honey bees. Before working for the National Honey Board, Alison worked in public relations and marketing, but she finds that talking about honey is a pretty sweet gig. Keith Seiz has been immersed in the food and beverage industries for the last 20 years, first as a journalist covering commercial bakery trends and today as an ingredient marketing expert for the National Honey Board. In his current role, Keith spends most of his year traveling the country talking to distillers, brewers, bakers and food manufacturers about how to make better products with honey. It’s his passion, and one that has him working with companies ranging from craft breweries to global food brands.Danny Connors is the Innovation Brewer at Rogue Ales & Spirits. He has been at Rogue for over a decade and is responsible for experimenting and creating new, innovative beers at our Eastside Pilot Brewery in Portland, Oregon. Previously, Danny worked as Head Brewer at Buckman Brewery. Danny lives in Portland with his wife and daughters.Anna Seear is the co-founder and co-owner of Ritual Chocolate. Born in the Essex countryside of England and now residing in the Utah mountains, she is inspired every day by nature, the outdoors, and eating well. When she isn't immersed in all things chocolate, she can be found out on a mountain trail, biking, skiing, or hiking with her husband and two dogs.  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.