Brewing Pastry Stouts Thoughtfully with Wandering Monsters Brewing

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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