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Coffee Beer Week: Péché Mortel

Posted: May 29th, 2010, 1:00am CEST by Jon

Today is a coffee beer out of Canada: Brasserie Dieu du Ciel’s Péché Mortel—literally “Mortal Sin.” It’s a 9.5% Imperial Coffee Stout brewed with Fair Trade coffee and is bottled conditioned—that means don’t be surprised to find dregs of yeast (and possibly coffee) on the bottle of the bottle (or even floating in your glass). It’s good for you!

Their description:

Péché Mortel (French for “Mortal Sin”) is an intensely black and dense beer with very pronounced roasted flavours. Fair trade coffee is infused during the brewing process, intensifying the bitterness of the beer and giving it a powerful coffee taste. Péché mortel is brewed to be savored; we invite you to drink it in moderation.

Appearance: Black and opaque, with light brown mocha head. “Chunkies” at the bottom of the glass, floating around. [Likely from the bottle conditioning.]

Smell: Roasted malts and coffee—a bit like smelling a bag of fresh beans. Sweet notes of an Imperial Stout—caramel and chocolate aromas and some sweet alcohol.

Taste: Bitter and roasty and dry with a bit of alcohol heat at the back. Not really any astringency but the roasty, woody notes are fairly pronounced with a bite to it. Alcohol is well masked.

Mouthfeel: Full, with a dry body throughout and a smoky feel to it.

Overall: Good and surprisingly smoky; much drier than I’d expect for an Imperial Stout. Bitter coffee.

On BeerAdvocate, it scores an overall grade of A. On RateBeer, it scores 4.15 out of 5, and is in their 100th overall percentile.
Coffee Beer Week: Jah*va Imperial Coffee Stout

Posted: May 27th, 2010, 6:00pm CEST by Jon

Southern Tier Brewing, up in Lakewood, New York, brews a series of Imperial Stouts (their “Blackwater Series”) that, from what I’ve tasted so far, can best be described as “decadent.” At least two are brewed with coffee, and their Jah*va Imperial Coffee Stout is available here in Bend.

This is a big beer with 11% alcohol by volume and yes, it definitely fits the “decadent” bill. Here’s their description (both on the site and the label):

Three thousand feet above sea level in the misty mountains of Jamaica, some of the world’s finest Arabica beans are hand picked on their way to becoming Blue Mountain Coffee. Halfway around the world, plump spring barley grows to maturity in the loamy soil of North America while aromatic hops are cultivated to exacting standards. Here in our kettles, these three special ingredients are blended to create a heady mixture of sweet sugar, dark roast, and complex flavor. Please enjoy this brew in moderation.

Appearance: Brown-black color, completely opaque. Nice thick and creamy head, tan-colored, is leaving nice lacing.

Smell: Sweet coffee syrup; wood notes and roasted malts, backed by a brandy-like alcohol note.

Taste: Creamy, burnt caramel and smoky wood flavors, all over a completely astringent-free dark roast coffee. Very sweet and with the coffee it comes across as a nice Turkish delight. Some chocolate notes, but more burnt-sugar sweetness (a bit cloying).

Mouthfeel: Creamy, silky mouthfeel with stick-sweet, full-bodied finish.

Overall: Superb, lots of “sweet coffee” with a touch of alcohol heat but none of the dry/acid of typical coffee. Great dessert beer.

On BeerAdvocate, it scores an overall grade of A-. On RateBeer, it scores 3.91 out of 5 and is in their 99th overall percentile.
Coffee Beer Week: Coffee in homebrewing

Posted: May 27th, 2010, 5:09am CEST by Jon
When it comes to brewing with coffee, homebrewers have it good: small-scale brewing makes it easy and affordable to experiment in ways that larger commercial brewers can’t. For instance, you could split a batch into two equal parts for secondary fermentation and add two different types of coffee to compare; you won’t need much coffee for this and you only need a second carboy.

Of course, getting the coffee into your beer is the trick; here’s what several sources have to say about the process:

Charlie Papazian in The New Complete Joy of Homebrewing (2nd edition from 1991) suggests using

…only fresh ground beans and steep (never boil them) during the final 5 minutes before straining and sparging. Another option would be to add freshly ground coffee to the secondary and “cold extract” the coffee essence. How much to use? Give it a shot with half a pound for your first 5 gallons and progress from there.

Al Korzonas in Homebrewing Volume 1 (1997) makes note of using flavored coffees as well as plain, and says:

I recommend steeping between ½ pound and 1 pound of freshly-ground coffee beans in a few cups of boiling water (don’t boil the beans) for 15 minutes or so and then run the liquid through a coffee filter. Then, get another fresh coffee filter and run it through again. You can even do that again a third time. The reason for all this extra filtering is to remove the oils that you are going to get from the beans. If left in the coffee, these oils will ruin your head retention. Add the cooled coffee into the primary at the end of fermentation.

Randy Mosher in Radical Brewing (2004) says, “The best way to use it is with a cold extraction…. Four to 8 ounces (113 to 227 g) of coffee will season a batch.” This cold extract should be added to the secondary for the cleanest flavor. He gives instructions on cold extracting the coffee:

This is a way of getting very smooth coffee flavor to add to your beer. Add 0.5 lb (0.45 kg) ground coffee to 24 ounces of cold filtered water in a sanitized container. Allow this to sit in the refrigerator for 24 hours, then run the mixture through a coffee filter. All or part of this extract… may be added to your stout.

Personally, I myself would opt for the cold extraction method and add the coffee to the secondary of whatever I’m brewing. If you’re adventurous, you could experiment with different methods—adding the grounds directly to the post-boil steeping or the secondary, cold extracting using a liquor such as vodka (akin to making a Kahlua-type liqueur), or if you’re really feeling experimental, adding whole beans to the secondary.

(I don’t know that I’d recommend this latter method, as the beans themselves contain a lot of oil that will extract into the beer—but I confess I’m curious enough that I might try it myself some time.)

You can get coffee flavors without actually using coffee, of course—roasted barley will impart coffee characters to the beer and is identifiable as such in many Stouts. Adding various coffee liqueurs to the beer will add coffee characters also—as well as boosting the alcohol content of the brew.

What styles of beer can/should coffee show up in? Aside from the obvious use of coffee in Porters and Stouts, here are some other possibilities that spring to mind:
- Schwarzbier
- Doppelbock
- Cascadian Dark Ale
- Brown Ale
- Belgian Dark Ales
- Dark Mild
- Winter Warmer
Of course, since homebrewing is all about experimenting, there’s no reason you couldn’t add coffee to any beer style. Mocha Pilsner? Java Wit? Why not?
Coffee Beer Week: Laurelwood Organic Portland Roast Espresso Stout

Posted: May 26th, 2010, 3:49am CEST by Jon

Each spring for the past couple of years Laurelwood Brewing up in Portland has brewed a seasonal coffee stout made with locally roasted coffee—with the lengthy name of Organic Portland Roast Espresso Stout. The “Organic” label applies to both the coffee and the beer: it’s certified by Oregon Tilth.

“OPRES” is 6% alcohol by volume and comes in 22-ounce bottles. Brewpublic posted a bit more about it back in February, and includes some history from Laurelwood Brewmaster Chad Kennedy—worth checking out.

Appearance: Black with brown edges when held to the light; tan head that fell rather quickly.

Smell: Roasty coffee much like a fresh-brewed cup of coffee. Some hints of chocolate and dark malts but mostly coffee.

Taste: Pretty straightforward cold-processed coffee flavors over a fairly dry stout (though not “Irish dry”). Beyond the coffee there’s a touch of deep caramel and burnt wood. Lots of coffee here, not unlike a cup of dark roast.

Mouthfeel: The coffee thins out the body for a stout; pleasantly dry and roasty finish.

Overall: Very coffee-ish, and comes out pretty drinkable; they do a good job of not making it too bitter or harsh.

On BeerAdvocate, it scores an overall grade of B+. On RateBeer, is scores 3.8 out of 5, and is in their 96th overall percentile.
Coffee Beer Week: Oakshire Overcast Espresso Stout

Posted: May 25th, 2010, 5:24am CEST by Jon

Oakshire Brewing Company out of Eugene, Oregon, is a young brewery making a big splash; their Overcast Espresso Stout won the silver medal in the “Coffee Flavored Beer” category at last year’s Great American Beer Festival and has been getting high marks all around.

Overcast is an Oatmeal Stout brewed to 5.8% alcohol by volume, and the coffee comes from Wandering Goat Coffee in Eugene. The secret to their coffee usage is in cold-brewing it—a 13 to 16 hour steep extracts the coffee flavors you want in a beer, without extracting the acids and tannic qualities that a regular hot infusion brew produces.

And it pays off in this beer, with intense coffee flavors without any of the extra acidity of a “hot brew.”

Appearance: Black and opaque with muddy-brown head of foam, fell to a skiff on top.

Smell: Full of coffee—like opening a bag of just-roasted beans. A bit of black patent malt in there too; nice and rich.

Taste: Coffee through and through; creamy with a bit of acid astringency. A charred wood note—not smoky, just burnt—that softens as it warms. The coffee really dries it out.

Mouthfeel: Medium-full body, but lighter than what I expect for an Oatmeal Stout; the coffee cuts into the creamy texture and finishes it dry.

Overall: Heavy on the coffee but pretty good—not too harsh. Anyone who loves coffee will love this.

On BeerAdvocate, it scores an overall grade of B+. On RateBeer, it scores 3.7 out of 5 and is in their 98th overall percentile.
Coffee Beer Week

Posted: May 24th, 2010, 9:00pm CEST by Jon

It’s the last full week of the month, and that means it’s time for a Theme Week here at The Brew Site. As you can tell from the title of this post and the logo to the right, I’ve decided that this month’s theme is Coffee Beer Week.

I’ve been thinking about coffee beers in terms of emerging beer styles; over on my Hop Press article about American styles, EskimoDave posed a question about the origin of coffee beers that led me there. Indeed, adding coffee to beer does seem to be a distinctly-American trend these days, and the only coffee beers that come to mind are American-brewed ones. So I do consider coffee beers (particularly Porters and Stouts) to be an emergent American beer style.

Plus, our Central Oregon month of May (and spring in general) is fairly chill and dreary so far this year, so considering coffee this week seems rather apropos. Let’s review some beers, contemplate some homebrewing with coffee, and more.
Black Star Beer: Bottle vs. Can

Posted: May 24th, 2010, 4:25am CEST by Jon

One of the more interesting things to me about the Black Star Beer I received is that it comes in both bottles and cans (and you all know I’ve been following the canned craft beer movement)—and since they sent me both versions, I figured it was a good opportunity to do another side-by-side tasting like I did with Moose Drool. In this case I didn’t literally drink them concurrently—first taking a sip of one then another—but I opened the bottle first, and then the can.

But like the Moose Drool review, I’ll list each review attribute together to compare the versions.

Black Star Beer was first produced by Great Northern Brewing Company in 1995 out of Whitefish, Montana. It’s a “double-hopped (dry-hopped) golden lager based on traditional European Pilsner beers made with both Bavarian Mittelfrüh and Czech Saaz hops and two rwo malting barley.”

It was discontinued in 2002 and went on “hiatus”; they’ve now re-introduced the beer this year and are pushing it hard in the market—shortly after receiving my PR package, I saw a shipment had arrived at the local Whole Foods.

According to the press release, Black Star is being brewed (again) at the Great Northern facility in Montana, as well as in Milwaukee—where the beers I had were brewed (according to the labels).

Appearance:

Bottle: Deep gold (coppery) and very clear; head broke quickly, leaving a bare skiff on top.

Can: Lighter gold—more honey-colored—with a more substantial head that stuck around longer.

Smell:

Bottle: Malty and minerally with grassy hops; touches of sweet corn.

Can: Much lighter aroma, almost none—though there seems to be an initial metallic note (possibly from the edge of the can opening during the pour).

Taste:

Bottle: Clean with a nice slightly-caramel amber malt toastiness. Biscuit. Low hopping.

Can: Lightly malty with toasty bread crust flavors. Little to no hops.

Mouthfeel:

Bottle: Clean and crisp and light-bodied with a slight brisk edge.

Can: Clean with brisk finish—cleaner than the bottled version.

Overall:

Bottle: Nice and toasty for a light lager, drinkable and flavorful.

Can: Despite metallic (can residue?) note on the nose, this is I think a bit cleaner though with not as much maltiness—still pretty good.

If I had to put a style label on it, I’d probably call it a “light Vienna lager.”

On BeerAdvocate, five reviews so far have garnered an overall grade of C-. On RateBeer, it scores 2.34 out of 5, and is in their 17th percentile (but 89th percentile for the “Pale Lager” style).
Received: A pair of Michelob wheats

Posted: May 23rd, 2010, 6:11pm CEST by Jon

These came late in the week:

I’ve drank and reviewed Shock Top before, but the Michelob Ginger Wheat is new this year; I’m curious as to how ginger-y it will turn out.
Received: Firestone Walker Parabola

Posted: May 19th, 2010, 9:53pm CEST by Jon

Arrived yesterday:

Firestone Walker’s Parabola Imperial Stout, the first of a reserve series (according to the label—”No. 001″), and the first bottled release of Parabola. It’s a barrel-aged 13% beer and limited—only 1000 cases were produced.
Breweries’ historic buildings

Posted: May 19th, 2010, 8:45am CEST by Jon

The Lost Oregon blog is starting a “Beer and history” series that looks pretty interesting:

Many, if not most, of our local breweries and drinking establishments are housed in older buildings just by the fact that rarely is a new brewery built from scratch because let’s face it, most older buildings have an existing personality, architectural touches, good location, and good bones. As I’ve sat at many a bar and sipped on a cold one, I’ve often visualized the building in its previous life – Storefont? Office building? House of ill repute? Haunted by a 1920s flapper girl? [Ghosts are always romantic figures like a scorned lover from the 1920s that threw herself out the window. How many junkies that OD’ed on smack in a flophouse stick around to haunt the place?]

This seems like it could be an interesting subject regardless of where the brewery is located, but being it’s an Oregon-themed blog, naturally it’ll only cover the Oregon breweries.

The first one featured is Widmer’s Gasthaus.
American Craft Beer Week 2010

Posted: May 18th, 2010, 6:30am CEST by Jon

Today is the first day of American Craft Beer Week, which runs from the 17th until the 23rd. Of course, if you’re online and read beer blogs, you’re already aware of it, but just in case, here’s the blurb:

Beer lovers, craft brewers, homebrewers, beer distributors, retailers, and even U.S. Congress are all making special plans for the annual American Craft Beer Week taking place across the country May 17-23. The “Mother of All Beer Weeks,” organized by the Brewers Association, celebrates small and independent craft brewers and highlights all that America loves about craft beer. In 2006, the week became the largest national effort focusing on American craft brewers and remains so today.

There are a ton of related events all over the country, so definitely get out to your local brewery and see what they’re up to. For Oregon events (naturally), the Oregon Brewers Guild has a big list up, and are pretty on top of the events statewide.

I also like the “Beer Weeks” page on the ACBW site listing the various City/Region Beer Weeks that have cropped up lately; there’s getting to be a good number! Of course I’d like to see a Bend Beer Week on that list.
Received: Black Star Beer

Posted: May 13th, 2010, 8:53am CEST by Jon

A nice little package came today:

Black Star Beer, brewed by Great Northern Brewing Company, “on hiatus from the market for the past seven years.” It’s a “double-hopped golden lager” (a Pilsner) and is currently being brewed (according to the labels) in Milwaukee, although it was originally produced in Montana in 1995.

Of course, what’s most interesting to me is that there is both a canned and bottled version—perhaps another side-by-side review is in order.

Additional materials in the package include a DVD of marketing materials and three “Black Star” postcards.
The next Session (#40): Session Beer

Posted: May 11th, 2010, 8:45am CEST by Jon

The topic for next month’s Session (#40!) is up, and being hosted by Top Fermented: Session Beer.

What is your definition of a session beer? Is it, as Dr. Lewis suggested at the Craft Brewers Conference this year, “a pint of British wallop” or is your idea of a session beer a crisp Eastern European lager, a light smoky porter, a dry witbier, or even a dry Flemish sour?

Is it merely enough for a beer to be low alcohol to be considered a session beer, or is there some other ineffable quality that a beer must hold in order to merit the term? And if so, what is that quality? Is it “drinkability”? Or something else?

What about the place of session beer in the craft beer industry? Does session beer risk being washed away in the deluge of extreme beers, special releases, and country-wide collaborations? Or is it the future of the industry, the inevitable palate-saving backlash against a shelf full of Imperial Imperials?

Be here Friday, June 4th for that one.

And, Mario has the roundup for this month’s Session posted over on Hop Press.
Received: Two from Deschutes

Posted: May 11th, 2010, 8:32am CEST by Jon

At the beginning of the weekend:

Just to stay on the radar. Not a bad move, actually.
Hop Press today: Stumbling towards all-grain brewing

Posted: May 8th, 2010, 7:37pm CEST by Jon

My Hop Press article today documents my first steps towards actual all-grain brewing:

Palmer’s How to Brew outlined “batch sparging”—also the “no sparge” method—which made it clear to me that all I really need is the mash tun, no complications needed. Batch sparging is simple: you mash the grains with the hot water, drain off the hot wort, pour a second “batch” of hot water into the grains, and drain that off. Done. No need for a second tank setup and sparge arm assembly!

I already have a 30-quart pot that I boil my full batches of beer in, so really, the only thing I needed was the mash/lauter tun. The other bit of resistance I had was in acquiring/converting a cooler into one—and quite frankly, this resistance melted away once I saw how easy it truly is to build your own.

With photos! In case you’re looking to put your own system together. Yes, it’s really that easy.
The Session #39: Collaborations

Posted: May 8th, 2010, 8:49am CEST by Jon
The first Friday of the month means that among beer bloggers it’s time for The Session—a collaborative blogging effort where each month’s “host” suggests a topic and everyone writes about that. The host then compiles a summary and links to everyone’s respective writings.

Appropriately enough, this month’s collaborative blogging efforts is on the topic of Collaborations, and is being hosted by my fellow Hop Press writer and editor Mario Rubio:

The Hop Press is a collaboration of writers from around the world working on a common site. As host of The Session for May, I thought it was only appropriate for the Hop Press to be a place for a gathering of posts about collaborations.

Feel free to have fun with the topic. Drink a collaborative beer. Who’s brewed some of your favorite collaborations? Who have been some of your favorite collaborators? Who would you like to see in a future collaboration?

Confession: I don’t have a good collaboration story. I’ve reviewed some collaborative beers over time, notably:
And this week I blogged about the impending (and first) collaboration between Deschutes Brewery and Hair of the Dog, news which has me all a-twitter.

But a specific story or review? No—or rather, nothing that probably won’t already be covered by other Session posts today.

Rather, how about thinking of collaborations in more “out of the box” ways? For instance, last weekend saw the “Cheers to Belgian Beers” festival in Portland, a unique event which has an interesting spin on brewery collaboration:
Portland’s Cheers to Belgian Beers started three years ago to help introduce Oregonians to the breadth of style and flavors of beers brewed in Belgium. Portland’s Cheers to Belgian Beers is much like your standard beer festival, but all the beers are brewed by Oregon breweries in a Belgian inspired manner… One yeast strain.

During the past two years, almost all brewers have used the same Wyeast yeast strain, to emphasize the educational opportunities for the consumer.

The People’s Choice Award Winner gets a number of benefits:
- Hosting the next years Portland’s Cheers to Belgian Beers.
- Picking next year’s yeast strain.
- Picking the benefiting charity for next years event.
Each participating brewery gets to come together and showcase their own particular take on a beer made with the same strain of yeast, with the proceeds from the resulting event going to charity—that’s the kind of “different” collaboration I’d like to see explored more often.

Of course, if one of my local Bend breweries called me up and wanted to do a “blogger” collaboration brew—you know I’d be all over that.
Boneyard Beer (Bend)

Posted: May 6th, 2010, 8:21am CEST by Jon

You might remember about a year and a half ago I blogged about the forthcoming Brewtal Brewing here in Bend; last November I noted that there was no further word about it and wondered. So what happened? They became Boneyard Beer and have begun brewing beer! (Their Facebook page is here.)

They are a 20-barrel production brewery located at 37 NW Lake Place (Suite B), just on the very edge of the downtown area. They (will?) have a tasting room and plan to sell beer directly from the brewery (retail). I presume they’ll be selling to accounts in town as well.

Most interestingly, they are apparently planning to can their beer; according to their “services” page they’ll be canning in 16-ounce cans—not something you see a lot of with craft beer.

And yes, they’re brewing; on April 17th they posted on Facebook, “Big day yesterday…First official brew in our 20 barrel brew house!!”

That now puts Central Oregon at eight commercial craft brewers.

Boneyard Beer
37 NW Lake Place, Suite B
Bend, OR 97701
Phone (541) 323 -2325
Fax (541) 323 2326
Big day yesterday…First official brew in our 20 barrel brew house!!
Deschutes and Hair of the Dog collaboration

Posted: May 4th, 2010, 6:12am CEST by Jon

There’s a press release that came through last week that has me excited: Deschutes Brewery and Hair of the Dog are collaborating (for the first time ever for both of them) on a beer that will be released in 2011:

[Hair of the Dog's Alan] Sprints came over to Bend in early March to brew two of his beers at the Deschutes Brewery brewhouse. Then it was Deschutes Brewery brewmaster Larry Sidor’s turn to brew two of his own beers. These four beers (which will remain unnamed as yet) will be aged in various wood barrels and then blended together sometime in early 2011 in a ratio yet to be determined as part of the creative process. Over the next several months, Hair of the Dog and Deschutes Brewery will be meeting to sample the aging beer and contemplate the blending process.

It may not generate as much fanfare as the Stone collaborations but this is big. I’ve often thought it would be cool to see Deschutes do a collaboration brew, and now we get two of the best breweries in Oregon putting together a wood-aged, blended beer… I can’t wait to hear more about this one.

Also on the topic of collaborations: remember that The Session is coming up this Friday the 7th on that very topic.