Caffeine in Coffee Beer?

A BA beer before bed might be bad karma if you are prone to reflux. Then again, almost everything is...

 

you'll be fine, it's a very small amount (i'm not a Dr nor have i done research)

i agree, big stouts give me heart burn when i go to bed

 

I have had my fair share of coffee beers late at night and never had trouble sleeping after. I think the alcohol probably counteracts it. If anything, they make me tired as any other form of alcohol. But not so tired that I can't stay up long enough to find out what's going to happen with Jamie....

 

There was a tweet from Founders (I think) a few years ago saying there is very little if any caffeine in one of their coffee beers.

Found it. @HurricaneDitka linked this many years ago.

 

https://www.beeradvocate.com/articles/3009/caffeinated-beer/

 

The caffeine is very minimal, I would not even worry about it to be honest.

 

unless you have a beer like Speedway Stout - which kept me up all night long!

 

Even a strong coffee beer would likely only have the equivalent of a teaspoon of coffee in it.

 

Even a tiny amount of caffiene past 4 pm will dramatically disrupt my sleep. I have been kept awake by more than once by drinking coffee beer even at 7 or 8 pm. From a chemical standpoint, caffeine can take up to 24 hours to be fully processed by the body, while alcohol takes only a few hours so it isn't true whatsoever that they will 'counteract' each other. Some people just aren't as affected by trace amounts of caffiene while others like myself are very sensitive.

Edit: and one of those experiences definitely involved KBS, so whatever, Founders. Now I only drink the stuff on weekend mornings.

 

So I did this about a year ago.

I bought a keg of FBS. i served off about half for a "xocoveza" infusion. I added in some whole coffee beans, and some Mexican hot chocolate spices to basically be a tea bag for the keg of beer (it was a cheese cloth thrown into the keg).

I had never felt so alive. The booze was wanting me to sleep. but the Coffee bean element had me wired out of my mind. I have never felt this sensation with beers like FBS or Xocoveza solo.

Bottom line, I guess unless you home brew, I dont think a coffee beer will keep you up. I have many friends and family who wont even touch a coffee based beer past 12pm. I want to call it mind games more than anything. But they are set in their ways.

If you do want a coffee infusion, add some fresh beans to some freshly kegged beer and wait for the fireworks

 

I guess you might call me a coffee addict. When I met my wife, who was of Danish descent and a Lutheran, she used to call coffee and pastries her "sacraments". For years I drank half a pot of strong coffee, plus I had a double espresso flat white every morning, At my doctor's behest I cut back to four cups of strong coffee in the morning, still drinking the flat white. After lunch I brew six cups of decaf for the rest of the day. Strangely, coffee does not keep me awake. I can lie down and go to sleep right after drinking that flat white. So caffeine in stout (or any other beer) is not a problem for me.

 

I am the same way. I can drink coffee all day and it does not keep me up at all. I think it comes down to tolerance, for those of us who consume it daily a coffee beer has zero impact, for others who don't drink coffee maybe they get a mild kick. Honestly, the amounts in beer are so low I cannot see how it would impact someone, I was looking and its so minor I just don't get it.

 

You may be addicted, and desensitized to it. What happens if you go a day without caffeine - do you get a raging headache?

 

I drink a cup of black coffee each morning and don't feel a buzz from coffee beer but it most definitely keeps me from sleeping. My SO also is kept awake from coffee beer though not all night like I am. It may seem unlikely but it most definitely happens. And I don't get headaches from withdrawal but my SO gets them quite badly.

It's not about the -amount- of caffiene in the beer itself, it's about the consumption of fresh caffiene being added to the processing half-life chemical remaining from prior consumption. Any new caffiene will re-up whatever exists in your system, which as stated, takes up to 24 hours to fully digest. Adding even the slight amount from beer (or tea or whatever) will start the whole breaking down process anew. I learned about it in college when I studied the effects of drugs on the human system.

 

Yes, being able to sleep after drinking caffeine is one of the signs of addiction to caffeine. I say this as a caffeine addict who grew up in a family that was in the coffee import business, and routinely enjoyed coffee throughout the day, as do I.

Don't think I ever have experienced a caffeine rush from coffee beer though. Probably more testing is needed.

 

Seemingly depends on the individual. I'm caffeine sensitive and won't drink a coffee beer after morning, unless I want to be up late. Most recently was a 9 month old Xocoveza. I figued it had aged enough for the caffeine to have diminished. Didn't even think about it until I was struggling to sleep, feeling the caffeine in my system and wondering when I'd ingested it that day.

 

It drives my wife crazy that I can wake up and get through the day with or without a morning cup of coffee, and I can also have a hot mug of coffee late in the evening and sleep like a baby. So I never worry about caffeine in coffee beers.

 

The exception to all of this good knowledge and advice is Avery's Tweak. I swear that shit kept me up all night once.

I love coffee beer and have never experienced a noticeable effect. Tweak felt like I had chugged four espresso shots and two whiskey shots.

It was really good stuff. Just be warned.