The Best Part of Waking Up...

Love them coffee beans.

Welcome to 2013. In the first blog post of the New Year, I want to continue my exposition on stouts. Hop heads such as me would probably argue the point, but the stout is in many ways the most versatile style in the brewing universe. English stouts, Irish dry stouts, foreign extra or export stouts, milk or sweet or cream stouts, oatmeal stouts, breakfast stouts, raspberry (or other fruit) stouts, oyster stouts? – the list goes on and on of how to be creative with this style of beer. I've already discussed in previous posts the difference between stouts and porters, and the glorious beer cloud that is found in a milk stout. Today, I’m going after what is quickly becoming one of my favorite sub-styles – the coffee stout.

By way of inspiration, I have to give shout-out (stout-outs?) to the Williamsburg Alewerks in Williamsburg, Virginia, the Capitol City Brewing Company is Arlington, Virginia, and the Southern Tier Brewing Company in Lakewood, New York. About a month or so ago, I opened a bottle of Williamsburg Alewerks’ Coffeehouse Stout and was delighted. It wasn't the first time I had this beer, but for some reason it didn’t occur to me how much I liked it the first time. But this time, the coffee notes jumped onto my palate and danced a jig. Really terrific brew.

Then, to ring in the end of the world, I made my way over to Capitol City Brewing Company in Arlington, Virginia and tried their seasonal release – Fuel – which is a Russian imperial stout made with coffee, milk chocolate and milk duds. The Mayan prediction may have failed, but Cap City did not… that beer was great!

One of my favorite beers.

A week or so later, on New Year’s Eve, a friend of mine shared a bomber of Southern Tier’s Jahva Imperial Coffee Stout and I was floored. This beer was as close to perfection as one can ask for. It reminded me of the Alewerks Coffeehouse and the Cap City Fuel, and how happy I was when I drank them. The three experiences together, being juxtaposed as they were, coalesced in my memory and triggered a euphoric response that I can now recreate every time I drink a coffee stout. Pretty cool, huh?

But enough about my insanity. As the style’s name suggests, coffee stouts are stouts that are brewed with coffee beans. The strength of the coffee flavor will vary based on what type of beans and how many beans are thrown into the brew kettle. Some brewers go for a subtle hint of coffee while others try to make their beer taste like your morning cup of Joe.

The reason this works is because coffee beans are bitter and roasted in flavor, making them ideal to balance-out the sweet and roasted flavors of dark roasted barley, which is the dominant note in a stout porter ale. Because of the supreme coupling between the sweetness of roasted barley and the bitterness of the coffee bean, this style has become very popular among beer drinkers and brewers alike. In today’s market, there are literally hundreds of coffee stouts to choose from and most are truly wonderful.

Another cool thing that brewers do to keep us all on our toes is create subsets within the coffee stout sub-style – like a sub-sub-style. For example, in addition to the Jahva Imperial Coffee Stout, Southern Tier also makes a beer called Mokah Imperial Coffee Stout, which as you can probably guess, is a coffee stout/chocolate stout hybrid and tastes like a cup of mocha coffee.

Can't wait for the 2013 release, which probably won't be until November.

Old Dominion Brewing Company’s Morning Glory Espresso Stout is another fine example of sub-sets within the coffee stout style. As you can imagine given the name, they have concentrated the coffee beans before brewing with them, to give the coffee notes more of an espresso vibe, and to make the brew more caffeinated. Fortunately, it is also higher in alcohol too so you get to experience the epic clash between uppers and downers as you revel in the perfect partnership of coffee and barley. You could also liken the phenomenon to the age-old paradox that has plagued humanity for millennia – what happens when you turn on a humidifier and a dehumidifier at the same time in the same room? I had the honor of trying this brew back in November of 2012 and it was immaculate – it probably also lead to the euphoric state of coffee stout bliss that I illustrated a few paragraphs ago, along with the Coffeehouse, Fuel, and Jahva.

In addition to the ones I've mentioned in this post, other coffee stouts that I recommend you attempt to find and enjoy for yourself are…

Leave it to Flying Dog for the posessed labels.

·        Bell’s Brewing Company’s Java Stout – Kalamazoo, Michigan

·        Dogfish Head Craft Brewery’s Chicory Stout – Milton, Delaware

·        New Glarus Brewing Company’s Coffee Stout – New Glarus, Wisconsin

·        Schlafly Beer’s Coffee Stout – St. Louis, Missouri

·        Long Trail Brewing Company’s Coffee Stout – Bridgewater Corners, Vermont

·        Flying Dog Brewery’s Kujo Imperial Coffee Stout – Frederick, Maryland

·        Founders Brewing Company’s Breakfast Stout – Grand Rapids, Michigan

·        New Belgium Brewing Company’s Imperial Coffee Chocolate Stout – Fort Collins, Colorado

I think that’s a good enough list to get you started. Most of those breweries have fairly large distribution nets so they should be able to be found. If you love coffee, you’ll love this style of beer. If you don’t love coffee, or even if you detest coffee, you should still try a taste of this emerging style… it’s really quite sensational.

Blogger’s Note: Oh, and by the way, the answer to the paradox detailed above involving the humidifier and the dehumidifier… no one knows, for no one has ever tried it and returned to us. Fortunately, the fight between the uppers and downers in the espresso stout is equally perplexing but not equally terminal.

Here’s to craft-brewed happiness… Cheers!