Coffee Pale Ales & IPAs

Mikkeller's Sleep Over is killer (duh) and I think they made another imperial one too...

 

To Øl's Black malts and body salts is a really good Black Ipa with Coffee.

 

Nothing touches Java The Hop from Fort George.

 

I've heard rumblings that they may can this...Th name was Regular Coffee when it tried at Brewer's Choice. It was labeled an Imperial Coffe Cream ale and clocked in at like 11%...was damned delicious.

 

There was a Stone collaboration called Dayman that came out last year and was pretty good but I think it was just a one time beer

 

One of my locals makes the most amazing coffee pales and IPAs and combinations with coffee pale base, unfortunately they don't bottle, and only growlers ever go out of the brewery. If you love the style, message me and I will let you know when one of them goes back on at Peekskill Brewery, and maybe trade you for some of your locals.

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/18168/110461/
http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/18168/86313/
http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/18168/104888/

 

In my opinion one of the better names out there.

 

One thing I like about this is they go single hop / single varietal of coffee (at least this year). It's simcoe hops and a Kenyan coffee, Gichuna, roasted by a local roaster (coava). They tend to do a lot lighter roasts so you really get a lot more delicacy - they describe it as "caramel, molasses, and carob mixed with notes of ruhbarb, hibiscus, and currant."

Once you get away from dark roasted coffee it opens up a lot more options for using coffee in different beer styles, from pilsners to saisons. Not canned or bottled but Reuben's in Seattle has recently done a coffee cream ale that was incredibly good and the local Seattle Gordon Biersch did a coffee pilsner for a local coffee beer fest. I see a number of coffee saisons around which sounds really interesting, but haven't tried any.

 

That beer you tried is actually their imperial cream ale "Regular Coffee" (12% abv) and that is supposed to be canned in 2015.
Carton's imperial coffee ipa, SS 2014(around 8% abv), was a one time anniversary release that was a part of their "Need a Bigger Boat" series. I don't believe this one will be coming back around but I wish it did.

 

Call me closed-minded, but a coffee IPA sounds terrible. I can't imagine how that would be good.

 

That's what I thought at first too - until I had Fort George Java the Hop last year. That's one beer that made me re-think things. Have the '14 in the fridge.

 

If Stone ever brings back Dayman check that one out! Or if you're ever in Ohio Columbus Breakfast Bodhi is amazing! I love Coffee IPAs.

 

I'd try it, but I can't imagine roasted/coffee/chocolate flavors blending well with citrus/tropical fruit/pine flavors. I'm even hesitant about trying black IPAs.

 

bean flicker

 

You probably primarily drink dark roasted coffees. Lighter roasted coffees have flavors that veer more towards honey, cherry, rhubarb, chamomile, caramel (think a maltier IPA?), vanilla, toffee, citrus, bluebery, red wine, leather, wood notes (cedar, cyprus), tobacco, etc. This depends not only on how it's roasted but how it's processed - coffee is a "bean" inside a fruit so you have to get it and dry it in some way. Some are wet processed (also called "washed"), some are dry processed (also called "natural"). In dry processing, fermentation starts to happen in the fruit imparting a lot of unique flavors to the bean. This is more common in certain parts of africa. In short, coffee has a TON of volatile compounds and those get "burnt" with dark roasts. Drink "craft" coffee and you'll quickly see how it marries with "craft" beer. This is like people that don't drink the varieties of craft beer saying "beer just tastes like beer".

Cheers!

 

^ Thanks for the advice. I'll certainly give black and coffee IPAs a try. And yes, you guessed correctly--I prefer medium and dark roasted coffee.

 

Excellent post. You just made me realize how little I know about coffee.