When is beer and chocolate a good combination? When it takes place as part of the holiday festivities in Costa Rica. From December 20^th to 22^nd, the Caribbean town of Puerto Viejo, province of Limon, will be home to the 2^nd Annual Chocolate Festival to be held at the Koki Beach Park. Craft beer will be one of the highlights of this festival, which will feature the introduction of a special brew that includes organically-grown cacao beans from Talamanca.

According to the event’s website, the focus of the Puerto Viejo Annual Chocolate Festival is to celebrate the cultural and socioeconomic importance of cacao crops in the Talamanca region:

The cacao fruit, which has been an agricultural staple to the indigenous inhabitants since the pre-Columbian era, is turned into a variety of products, most prevalently, chocolate. The festival hopes to bring recognition to the cultural, historical and economic value of the area’s organically grown world-class cacao.

Producers from across the nation will have an opportunity to showcase their quality products and attend tastings, lectures, and entertaining workshops such as the “Bean-to-Bar” demonstration. Festival includes a Friday night Gala, People’s Choice Brownie Bake-Off, Saturday chocolate market, area-wide Chocolate Crawl, 4-category Chocolate Makers Throw-Down, and Sunday plantation tours. Children in the town of Puerto Viejo will receive free tours prior to the festival and all residents are invited to attend the variety of affairs.

The main events are the Chocolate All Day and Chocolate Throw-Down celebrations. The former consists of a market and a stream of workshops; the latter is the awards ceremony for the categories of:

• Single Origin 70% Bar
• Flavor Inclusion Bar
• Chocolate Truffles

There’s also the Chocolate Crawl to enjoy, which is similar to a pub crawl, except that it involves various chocolate food groups, including special Afro-Costa Rican recipes. Unlike the food from the Central Valley, the Caribbean region of Costa Rica enjoys a certain culinary prestige. As mentioned above, the Costa Rica Craft Brewing Company from Cartago will travel to Puerto Viejo and debut a new beer that has been specially brewed for the Chocolate Festival.