Beer and Coffee: Together at Last?

by Erin Meister, Posted Mar 30th 2010 @ 1:00PM

Coffee beer: blasphemy for lovers of both brews, or a delicious paradox? The combination of stimulant (caffeine) and depressant (a frosty mug of suds) might sound like a weird contradiction, but au contraire -- one sip may convince you they were made for each other.

After all, why should whiskey and sambuca have all the fun when it comes to coffee?

Read more about coffee beers after the jump.

The most commonly caffeinated brews are stouts and porters -- roasted coffee's semisweet smokiness is a natural complement to rich, dark and heavy beers. One of my favorite coffee-tinged grogs is an organic porter from Vt.'s Wolaver's, the Alta Gracia Coffee Porter. Brewed with coffee grown on a nonprofit farm in the Dominican Republic and infused with vanilla beans, this beer is smooth, creamy and sweet, with just the right amount of dark-chocolate-like bitterness.

Darker-roast lovers might prefer Hitachino Nest Espresso Stout from Japan's Kiuchi Brewery. This almost-jet-black imperial stout has an incredible toastiness upfront and a heavy, coating mouth feel -- just like that first ultra-strong cup of joe that gets you going in the morning. (Though we don't advocate starting the day with a cold one, even if there is espresso in it.)

Lighter beers, like Peak Organic's crisp Espresso Amber Ale, are sometimes a better showcase for the coffee element itself, since the beans don't have to compete with the already-intense base a stouter beer has. The Maine-based brewery uses beans from their state mates at Coffee By Design, and the resulting ale is America's first Fair Trade-certified beer.

For an extra-special brew, some coffee roasters join forces with local breweries to create unique, often seasonally specific batches. Brooklyn's Gorilla Coffee has linked with the borough's Sixpoint Craft Ales on a collaboration called Gorilla Warfare; while my comrades at Counter Culture Coffee put their heads together with Carolina Brewery for the latter's Jumping Bean Coffee Stout.

Do you have a favorite coffee beer? Have any of your local coffee roasters teamed up with brewers in the area? Tell us in the comments.

Erin Meister trains baristas for North Carolina-based Counter Culture Coffee and sporadically maintains the blog Meet the Press Pot from her home in New York City. This is part of a series for the caffeine-addicted.

Filed Under: Drinks, Coffee
Tags: beer, coffee beer, coffee stout

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

3-30-2010 @1:48PM MH said... Real Ale's winter seasonal Coffee Porter is great stuff!
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3-30-2010 @1:58PM doodoolemonque said... New Century Brewing was the first to bottle beer with caffeine and have worked hard to earn a place on the shelf. It would be nice to see them paid their due respect when writing a piece on a field they pioneered. The brewery was started by Rhonda Kallman, one of the founders of Sam Adams and a beer industry legend. As someone who once owned a chain of specialty coffee stores and is now affiliated with the beer industry, may I suggest you owe them a tip of the cap. They're probably too proud to ask, but I'm not too proud to point out the omission.
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4-01-2010 @12:33PM Papercutninja said... i thought that the federales banned alcohol that contained caffeine in it "to protect the children"...
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3-30-2010 @4:11PM Bean Reel said... You mean there really is a "Buzz Beer" like on the old Drew Carrey show?

Daaaaaaaaaaang!
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3-30-2010 @4:26PM Greg said... Most examples are complete try-and-fail, though. This is a shotgun wedding in a bottle.
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3-30-2010 @6:37PM FamilyNight said... Thanks for using my picture. It's a delicious beer. I'd also recommend Mikkeller Beer Geek Breakfast, AleSmith Speedway Stout, Deschutes Black Butte XXI, Dieu du Ciel Péché Mortel, Founders Breakfast / Kentucky Breakfast Stout, Surly Coffee Bender, Bell's Java, Ballast Point Victory at Sea, Terrapin Wake n Bake / Depth Charge, Southern Tier Mokah / Jah-va, Lagunitas Cappuccino Stout, a few Cigar City stouts and more. There are lots of great coffee stouts out there.

Also, I have to disagree with Doodoolemonque. I'm pretty confident that New Century's Edison beer wasn't even close to the first bottled beer to have caffeine. It may have been the first to have artificial caffeine added, but that's nothing to celebrate, in my opinion.
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3-30-2010 @9:45PM andrewsjeremys said... Troegs Brewing Co. teamed up with St. Thomas Roasters here in Harrisburg, PA for their new Javahead Stout.
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4-01-2010 @8:26AM LinC said... I made chocolate Guinness cupcakes for St. Patrick's day. I'll bet a coffee stout would be even better at bringing out the chocolate flavor. I'll have to look for one of these.
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