OPEN CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS! For our next issue, we're looking for smart, thoughtful, engaging writing on any summer blockbuster released between 1975 - 2025. Submission Deadline: 6/28/26 Full Details: brightwalldarkroom.submittable.com/submit/35825...

Thursday June 11th is a great time to support the Dayton Dance Initiative!! 🩰 Eat &/or Drink at Fifth Street Brew Pub and 10% of proceeds go directly to the company!

“I don’t know what it means to bear witness to the great breweries that close, ever. Or to the ones who close in the wake of a launched campaign that directly impacted so much of its consumer base.” - @melindag.bsky.social in Final Gravity Issue 12

In a new bonus episode of Bean to Barstool, I explain why I think craft chocolate companies need to avoid using AI-generated graphics in marketing at all costs: www.beantobarstool.com/episodes/bon...

I am so privileged to work with such talented, sensitive & intuitive editors as David & Melinda ❤️ They took such wonderful care of this very hard-to-write piece on connecting with my father through shared drinks as his health deteriorated - huge thanks to them both & pls support their work 🍻

In her vulnerable story for our latest issue, @amethystheels.bsky.social writes about being her father’s caregiver before he passed in late 2026, how their relationship evolved in those later years, and how the role of drinking during their time together evolved with it.

Today on the blog, Tyler Cagwin of Nostalgia Chocolate talks about how craft chocolate makers can begin selling cacao nibs to craft brewers. This doesn’t have to be something only larger craft makers can do, so check out the post to learn from Tyler’s example: www.beantobarstool.com/blog/selling...

My latest for Chocolate Professor looks at the trend of using wood-smoked cacao in craft chocolate bars: chocolateprofessor.squarespace.com/blog/smoke-i...

HopLit just hit its 1st anniversary, & we're starting a new genre-based fiction series to take us through our second year. We're starting off by talking about science fiction: www.buzzsprout.com/2500369/epis...

New Bean to Barstool episode out today! www.beantobarstool.com/episodes/fou... In this deep dive conversation, I get to geek out David Herrick of Foundry Chocolate in New Zealand about Foundry’s annual whisky chocolate bar made w/Thomson Distillery.

Being a caregiver is so tough. You lose & take on so much so quickly & must adapt as you navigate that changing relationship. With my dad, sharing drinks was crucial for us both in his last years Huge thanks @davidnilsenbeer.bsky.social & @melindag.bsky.social at Final Gravity for publishing ❤️

I'm looking for examples of breweries from the Rust Belt states who took over former manufacturing spaces that might have remained empty otherwise. Please share any leads or examples (no DMs - I don't have access to them on here).

In their excellent article for the latest issue of Final Gravity, @fermentablesugar.bsky.social writes about the role of women before, during, & after Prohibition on both sides of the temperance fight.

I'm trying to get a sense of how many craft chocolate enthusiasts/makers/industry folks are on here. If this describes you, please comment, and tag others you're aware of.

making freelancers master any "payment portal" besides just submitting an invoice is wage theft

This is good. Stranger Chocolate can do no wrong.

In his article for Final Gravity Issue 12, @sip-and-savor.bsky.social profiled Idil Car, the first female beer sommelier in Türkiye, & introduced us to the Istanbul beer scene. Today, you can read this wonderful article for free on our site: www.finalgravityzine.com/articles/fg1...

Barnes & Ignoble.

New episode of HopLit: Pulitzer winners & AAPI month, plus This Beer Is Lit, Literary Lingo, Beer Fact Break, and more: www.buzzsprout.com/2500369/epis...

Super excited to announce Final Gravity will be a sponsor for Gem City Roller Derby's 2026 season!!! We are huge roller derby fans, and we can’t wait to cheer on the Violet Femmes, Lavender Haze, and Purple Reign at their bouts this summer.

In this week's Bean to Barstool episode, Tyler Cagwin of Nostalgia Chocolates talks through how craft chocolate breweries can begin selling cacao nibs & other ingredients to breweries: www.beantobarstool.com/episodes/nos...

Alright, which lager should I kick off the weekend with this evening?

It's release day for Final Gravity Issue 12! Final Gravity is a quarterly print beer zine telling personal, human-centered stories about beer. (short 🧵) www.beantobarstool.com/shop/p/final...

Final Gravity Issue 12 comes out Monday, so I thought I’d share a short 🧵 about how these issues physically come together. We don’t have printers we send the issue off to to be printed for us. We have printers—as in physical inkjets—in our home office, and we do it all ourselves.

When it comes time to ship, we set aside an evening, put on some movies, and write short personal notes for every single recipient. No idea how long we’ll be able to do that—we’d love to have enough readers that becomes impractical, but we would miss it. Then everything gets weighed and stamped.

Final Gravity Issue 12 comes out Monday, so I thought I’d share a short 🧵 about how these issues physically come together. We don’t have printers we send the issue off to to be printed for us. We have printers—as in physical inkjets—in our home office, and we do it all ourselves.

New episode of HopLit today, in which we celebrates the beginning of patio season with books and food & drink, as well as book & beer news, recent reading, This Beer Is Lit, & more: www.buzzsprout.com/2500369/epis...

My latest for Ohio Magazine: The suburban oasis of Full Circle Brewgarden in Englewood. www.ohiomagazine.com/food-drink/a...

So proud of this piece about my late father & how our Lion Lager-filled adventures around Sri Lanka changed our relationship Chuffed to bits it was recognised by both @britbeerwriters.bsky.social & @nagbw.bsky.social & so grateful to David & Melinda for publishing it ❤️🍻 🦁 🇱🇰

@amethystheels.bsky.social wrote an amazing article for our 2nd issue back in 2023 about traveling to Sri Lanka and reconnecting with her father over bottles of the national Lion Lager, and today you can read the article for free on the Final Gravity site: www.finalgravityzine.com/articles/fg0...

Spend 5 minutes this morning w/Jason Brewer & Zac Boehnke of Wandering Monsters Brewing in Cincinnati to hear the most important thing they've learned when working with cacao & other flavor ingredients, & the storytelling that's possible with these beers. www.beantobarstool.com/episodes/bit...

Some World Beer Cup stats for Ohio breweries last night: - Ohio won 14 medals, its second most at a WBC (15 in 2022). Those were divided between 9 breweries, with Third Eye taking home 4 medals, continuing their run of success. 🧵

If indie beer writing is something you enjoy, and you have the means, we just ask that you consider subscribing to FG or signing up on Patreon. Here is our Patreon: www.patreon.com/beantobarsto...

In all likelihood, we are going to lose one of our Pro Sponsors on Patreon for Final Gravity (not for any bad reason, just business changes on their end). As a very small publication, every single supporter counts, and Pro Sponsors are a big source of support for us. (short 🧵)

Anyone else have CBC FOMO? I decided to skip this year and, predictably, am now wishing I were in Philly.

Just a thought: How about we stop shaming the poor for buying things that may not be essential, and start shaming the rich for making a profit off things that are essential?

Greenbush. Damn.

Editing the final proofs before we start our print run for Final Gravity Issue 12 this week!

New Bite Sized episode of Bean to Barstool out today! Hear from Liang Wang of Kessho Chocolate talk about the meaning of their name & the thoughtfulness behind their beautiful label artwork & bar mold design. www.beantobarstool.com/episodes/bit...

Huge thanks to David & Melinda for giving me space to share one of the most personal and difficult pieces I’ve written Support independent, personal stories from the drinks world you won’t read anywhere else & sign up to Final Gravity ❤️🍻 ✍️

Final Gravity Issue 12 is now available for preorder! Preorders get free shipping when the zine mails out in early May. www.beantobarstool.com/shop/p/final...

Third Eye Brewing recently brewed a special batch of Double Astral chocolate imperial stout that I had the chance to advise on. We were able to get some Liberian cacao nibs from Kemu Farms to go with the Haiti PISA nibs usually used in this beer, all roasted by Violet Sky Chocolate.

“Even in a city marked by one of Europe’s most tragic post-WWII chapters, it is a brewery—more than any museum, landmark, or memorial—that offers the clearest window into its society and its troubled past.”

Kokoa Kamili in Tanzania is a familiar origin to most craft chocolate fans, but in the hands of thoughtful and skilled maker, even the familiar can surprise us. Sisters A has my heart. They are just the best.

Working on a potential story - what breweries have you seen that host watch parties for sporting events, movies, tv shows, etc?

Hi folks. As part of my reporting, I'd like to talk to middle-class households about their alcohol purchasing. If that's you, please DM. (Your name can be withheld if desired.) * I'll use the Pew definition of middle class, which is households making $56K-$167K.

Monthly reminder: Many people have a book in them, but it takes a special kind of freak to leave the Land of Laziness, cross the Plains of Procrastination and Insecurity Mountain, find the Blade of No One Made You Do This, and use it to cut your chest open and yank that book out.

In my latest for @cocoasupply.bsky.social's CocoaTalk blog, we look at brewing with cacao husks, a waste product of the chocolate-making process that can be surprisingly versatile in brewing at much less cost than nibs. cocoasupply.com/blog/infusin...

"criticizing AI use in journalism or other creative industries is classist" NO IT IS NOT there is a class that benefits enormously from cognitive surrender, epistemic warfare, and the enclosure of all hitherto produced culture and it is NOT THE WORKING CLASS

I gave a talk for the Craft Beer Professionals spring virtual conference last week on how breweries and beer events can be more accommodating and supportive of employees and guests dealing with anxiety and depression: www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4h_...