Midwest Craft Chocolate Festival 2025: Add-On Tastings Worth Every Bite
Published
3 November 2025
There's nothing better than a craft chocolate deep dive.
The Ultimate Guide to Midwest Craft Chocolate Festival 2025 Add-On Tastings.
If you’re a chocolate lover in the Midwest, mark your calendar!
The Midwest Craft Chocolate Festival 2025 is bringing together some of the most passionate makers, tasters, and educators in the craft chocolate world.
While the main festival floor is full of flavor, there’s a schedule packed with included workshops and paid add-on tastings are where you’ll truly unlock the depth of bean-to-bar chocolate.
We’re huge fans of a detailed chocolate tasting and these small-group sessions let you taste, learn, and connect directly with experts who are shaping how we understand cacao and chocolate flavor today.
Welcome onboard, Your Chocolate Flight awaits.
Here are the tastings to build your “flavors that travel” tasting flight — one bar, one region, one deep dessert experience at a time:
1. Island Indulgence: A Taste of Hawaiian Chocolate
Host: Karla Schade – Opening Chocolate
When: Saturday, 22 November 2025 10:30 AM
Buy Tickets Here: eventbrite.com
Why It’s Worth a Stop:
Karla Schade, founder of Opening Chocolate, brings her background as a botanist, chocolate educator, and sensory specialist to a guided tasting of Hawaiian cacao. You’ll explore how volcanic soil, tropical microclimates, and small-batch fermentation give island chocolate its signature personality — lush, floral, and often fruit-forward.
Expect to come away with a new respect for America’s own cacao origins — and maybe a few new bars to love.
2. Palate to Palette: Painting What You Taste in Chocolate
Host: Karla Schade – Opening Chocolate
When: Saturday, 22 November 2025 1:30 PM
Buy Tickets Here: eventbrite.com
Why It’s Worth a Stop:
Ever wondered how to describe what you taste? This interactive workshop blends art, flavor, and sensory exploration. Guided by Karla Schade, you’ll translate your tasting notes into visual form — color, shape, and movement — capturing chocolate’s story through your own creative lens.
It’s an unforgettable way to deepen your appreciation of chocolate while building a sensory vocabulary that goes far beyond “sweet” or “bitter.”
3. Beer & Spirits-Infused Craft Chocolate Tasting
Host: David Nilsen – Bean to Barstool
When: Saturday, 22 November 2025 3:30 PM
Buy Tickets Here: beantobarstool.com
Why It’s Worth a Stop:
Beer lovers, this one’s for you. David Nilsen — Advanced Cicerone®, award-winning writer, and host of Bean to Barstool — guides you through a tasting of beer- and spirits-infused craft chocolate bars.
You’ll explore how brewers and chocolate makers use similar fermentation techniques to create complex flavor, and how cacao can carry notes of bourbon, hops, or barrel aging.
It’s the Midwest’s ultimate beer-and-chocolate pairing experience, and a reminder that craft is craft — whether it’s brewed or conched.
Why These Tastings Are Worth It
Here’s the thing: most chocolate lovers never get to slow down and really taste. We nibble, we judge, we move on. But these sessions give you something rare — time, focus, and expertise.
- Intimate, hands-on sessions: Limited seating means you’ll actually chat with the hosts and dive deep into the craft.
- Educational and delicious: Learn cacao origin stories, fermentation science, and sensory skills — while tasting rare bars.
- Perfect for Midwest food lovers: Whether you’re into local brewing, artisan food, or flavor travel, these tastings hit the sweet spot.
- Exclusive access: These events sell out fast, and each includes curated bars you won’t find on the festival floor.
Each bar tells a different story — cultural, geographic, and deeply personal. This origin flight is your edible itinerary through the flavors and faces behind cacao and chocolate.
Planning Your Midwest Craft Chocolate Festival Day
Here’s what you need to know to make your chocolate tasting journey smooth and satisfying:
- What: The Midwest Craft Chocolate Festival 2025
- Location: Love Community Center, 1850 N Main St, Rushville, IN 46173, United States
- Dates: November 21 – 22, 2025
- Time: 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM on Friday, 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM Saturday
- Website: midwestcraftchocolatefestival.com/
For More details:
- See our headline article here: The Midwest Craft Chocolate Festival 2025: Small Batch, Big Flavor
- See here for the full Midwest Craft Chocolate Festival 2025 schedule: Midwest Craft Chocolate Festival Schedule
Taste, Learn & Connect in the Heart of the Midwest
The Midwest Craft Chocolate Festival isn’t just about tasting chocolate — it’s about understanding it. The add-on sessions are where chocolate transforms from dessert to discovery.
Whether you’re sipping beer-infused bars with David Nilsen or sketching your sensory impressions with Karla Schade, you’ll walk away with new insights, new bars, and maybe even a new favorite maker.
So grab your ticket, pack your curiosity, and come see why the Midwest is quietly becoming a powerhouse in the craft chocolate movement
Want More Like This?
Want more tasting guides like this? Check out our Midwest Craft Festival dedicated page and sign up as a chocolate eater for insider picks, single-origin deep dives, and chocolate reviews from every corner of the craft world. Thanks for traveling with us — see you on the festival floor.
Where to next?
If you’re off to the Midwest Craft Chocolate Festival 2025, we recommend:
And if you’re curious, we recommend:
And if you’re still not so sure, check out what events or makers are in your area:
Talk Beans with us!
Got any questions? Feedback? Want to hi say? Reach out below – we’re always happy to chat!
Upcoming Event/s
Virtual Event, Educational Course
‘26 September 2025’
Chocolate Making from the Bean by Ecole Chocolat 2025 – Program
Source cocoa beans. Roast. Winnow. Grind. Temper chocolate and mold into bars. See here for more information.
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Contents: Your Guide To Everything Beanstalkr And Exploring the World of Bean-to-Bar Chocolate: 
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