Karen has a childhood memory of us sitting in the back of our Grandad's car, tearing open the gold foil of a Cadbury's dairy milk chocolate bar and biting into the sweet, creamy chocolate. It is a memory full of joy and, in part, responsible for leading us to where we are today.
We started Bean and Goose to create the joyful and thoughtful chocolate we remember. To make exceptional chocolate that does no harm.
We began hand-making chocolate together in 2013 and loved it. What we loved the most about our fledgling business was being creative with chocolate flavours. Together we developed many incredible flavours inspired by our memories and our landscape. We had to find a way to share them. That is why we started the Bean and Goose Chocolate Tasting Club.
The Tasting Club would be a chocolate subscription where those who joined us would receive a monthly chocolate delivery. A new chocolate bar flavour every month that we would dream up and create especially for them.
The Tasting Club has been running ever since. 9 incredible years where we get to create a new chocolate bar each month. Almost 100 bars of chocolate that are utterly unique in their story and flavour.
Around the middle of each month, all who are part of the chocolate subscription receive an exciting delivery. Inside is a story and an extraordinary bar of chocolate. A chocolate bar made in the smallest numbers by us, often only hours earlier.
Each bar begins with an idea or a memory usually sparked during conversations. It could be a memory of our grandad or a chat about the glut of fruit growing in our gardens. Each bar has a story that we share.
In 2022 we created another 12 new and exciting bars of chocolate that can only be available through the limited numbers of a chocolate subscription club.
January can feel like an austere month; we wanted this delivery to guarantee a moment of joy. So we took the fun Pina Colada and used it as inspiration for a pineapple & rum-infused chocolate bar.
February Rose, Tahini & Pistachio Inspired by halva, we infused milk chocolate with a delicate taste of rose and combined it with tahini and toasted pistachio.
In March, we celebrated with a rich Irish stout caramel and hazelnut bar.
April saw Banoffee flavours created with coffee, whiskey & rum
May a delicate and smoky chocolate bar celebrating our Irish love of tea using Bewleys Lapsang Souchong
June We have Bean and Goose pollen collectors on bee hives in Ireland. The flavour & colour of the pollen change as the bees move through the seasons. The pollen we harvested in June was a beautiful bright yellow; we paired it with saffron and pistachio for a sunny, musky caramel.
July Arroz Con Leche. A rice, lemon & cardamom chocolate bar inspired by a delicious experience and a weekend together in Ibiza.
August Our gardens at Last Tree Farm are full of lavender and were the flavour for our late summer bar, a lavender-infused crunchy cocoa nib.
September A flavour drawn from our hedgerow. A glut of apples from an old apple tree with foraged blackberry dust & hazelnut. A reminder of childhood apple crumbles.
October brought us ripe, plump figs. A juicy fig, red wine & cinnamon jam was paired with crunchy coconut.
November Smoke. A collaboration bar with our friends in The White Rabbit. Inspired by winter rituals and bonfires. Dark chocolate cold smoked over apple wood dust by the skilled team at The White Rabbit in Cork.
December is exceptional & on its way….
For all who fondly remember great chocolate, you can still join our Tasting Club for December's tasty chocolate delivery.
Or, to give the gift that keeps on giving, simply gift a monthly chocolate delivery with a subscription to our Tasting Club. 3, 6 or 12 months of delicious chocolate joy delivered directly to them anywhere in the world.