Prairie Artisan - Coffee Okie

Ethanol is considered amphoteric and can behave as both a weak acid (deprotonation) or a weak base (Lewis base). It's basic behavior is attributed to the lone pairs on the oxygen (Lewis base) rather than hydroxide ion formation. Although it has a higher pKa than water (just barely), and therefore, a stronger conjugate base, the change in pH of the solution would be negligible since you are dealing with weak acid/weak base chemistry. You are correct in alluding to weak acid/weak base chemistry which does get much more complicated as it must take into account the pKa's and concentrations of everything in solution.

It is definitely interesting to theorize as to why the alcohol content is different and I would like to hear possible insights. I do know of a specific beer company that has reported lower alcohol contents of its barrel aged variants as to keep under the state maximum, but, they weren't aging on coffee. Also, could it just be a variation between the batch of bottled okie and the batch used to make the coffee okie? (Assuming two or more separate batches were brewed)

 

Whoa, thank you for these. I have a tasting this weekend and I shall be rolling all these facts out as my own.

 

Yeah, I was just trying to use the most simplistic thing I could come up with without having to take into account what compounds where left over in the solution after the acid/base reaction. Citrus fruit beers are another things entirely since citrus fruits are usually more acidic than coffee, but there's so much fructose in them, that it leads to a secondary fermentation, and even though it's a stronger acid the ABV will go up substantially more. It's way more complicated, but I haven't been in a Chem lab in 8 years and I was trying to pull whatever knowledge I had left.

 

To get back to the beer, it's really freaking good and you should get as much as you can

 

I'm hoping so, I really liked the regular Okie, and I just picked up 3 bottles of the Coffee Okie yesterday.

 

I'm looking to see if there's any of these left on the shelves. I was happy to find the Bomb and Prairie Hop on shelves a few weeks ago here for the first time.

 

I spoke with my rep yesterday for ATX, he said it's just a matter of time for that and the BA Bomb!

 

Just picked up two of these..based off what I'm hearing, I should of picked up the all three that the store had. "Bomb!" is up there with my favorite stouts so I'm very much looking forward to both Coffee Okie and BA Bomb if I can find it. Still on the hunt for a bottle of OK-Si.

 

Surprised to see unfettered love on this one. There's nothing wrong with it per se, but it's pretty one note....thin coffee and massive, massive booze. No real depth, body or interest. I drank it, but wouldn't buy another; certainly not at that price.