Coffee Beer Taste-Off

I unfortunately have a predeliction for beer hoarding – gathering up interesting looking stuff from travels around the world, supermarkets, online and the two excellent Birmingham beer shops of @StirchleyWines and @CotteridgeWines, and then hanging on to them for ages in my beer cupboard until the right 'opportunity' arises to drink them. Now and again I'll have a bit of a poke around to see what's lurking in there, and if some kind of theme emerges, perhaps it will prompt me into a spate of 'drinking up'.

The line-up

On a recent Saturday, I realised I’d acquired quite a few coffee beers in the cupboard, and after a great supper of steak-frites, some after-dinner coffee beers seemed like a good fit. This would allow me to compare and contrast them, to see which had elements I liked and what made a ‘good’ coffee beer in terms of my personal taste.

It felt some kind of food accompaniment was called for, and a ponder on Twitter led to @simonhjohnson suggesting vanilla cheesecake as a good match; so with cake supplies purchased, @dave_car ready to help out with the drinking, and the beers lined up, we commenced sampling:

Traditional Scottish Ales - Double Espresso 6%

It would seem this beer is made for the export market, with labelling on the back in different languages and “Premio Caffé Birra” on the front, and the label is a stylish matte black with gold embossing. As soon as the bottle was opened a good whiff of coffee and dark chocolate ganache was released. It poured very dark and opaque. In the glass, more chocolate sweetness came out in the aroma but there’s a tiny hint of something else – something slightly artificial like pots of ‘non-diary creamer’. The taste was disappointing compared to the initial aromas, a little thin and watery, but at least no bitter unpleasantness. It was smooth enough but just not much depth, body or finish.

 

Batemans – Mocha 6%
Oddly this was very fizzy when first poured into the glass. Mid-brown in colour, it didn’t have a lot of discernible aroma, especially when compared to the previous beer. However it’s ‘lightness’ in comparison perhaps made it a little more gluggable, if not particularly outstanding flavour-wise. But if you wanted a lighter-style beer with hints of coffee rather than something heavy, this would fit the bill.


Hitachino Nest - Espresso Stout 7.5%
This is produced by the Kiuchi Brewery in Japan, and was brought back from our trip there in April 2011. I don’t mind admitting I have a soft spot in my heart for this beer, as it was the first ever ji-biiru I tasted when @dave_car brought me back a bottle from an earlier trip to the US. I like the description, there's just something about the wording: “This espresso stout is brewed using well-roasted espresso beans. The recipe is based on the imperial Stout loved by the Russian Emperor. Please enjoy the balance of its rich taste and coffee flavour” – the last sentence in particular making me think of Bill Murray's Suntory advert for some reason.

The label states “Scadenza: Nov 2012” which I imagine means “use by” in Italian, so it was appropriate to get on with drinking it now rather than further hoarding. It seemed to me that standing around in a darkened cupboard for a while had brought out vinous notes in it, almost a hint of barrel-aging character. The coffee was more muted on the nose, but it was still there subtly in its full-bodied rich roasty flavour – not as much perhaps as a younger version of the beer, but I savoured the increased structure that had come through with time, and the subtle blending of roast malt, coffee, sweetness, wine and oakey tones.

Homebrew – Coffee Stout (about 4.5%?)
This was a bottle from our own homebrew kit – our first attempt at bottling (from the Dark Beer Drink-Off preparations) and had been stored for around 6 months. We had used a Coopers Premium Irish Stout kit, and modified it with a litre of fresh-brewed coffee in the FV, and had been really pleased with how it turned out at the time, drinking most of it fresh from the barrel with only a few Grolsch-top bottles stored. Just in case, I opened this one carefully in the sink – and it was a bit of a gusher – but thankfully only a little beer was lost. It quickly calmed down and was slightly effervescent in the glass, but not in a bad way. Compared to the taste when it was first made, I felt it could do with more vanilla and sweetness, as the sugars had fermented out leaving it quite dry in bottle. But it still had a smooth coffee character with a hint of roast bitterness, and was very pleasant to drink – it seemed like a competent enough attempt when in comparison with the other beers we’d had that evening.

Dark Star – Espresso 4.2%
 
I’ve had this beer (and loved it) in cask several times, but not had a bottle in years. It had a much sweeter milk-chocolate nose than I was expecting, and did have a full, silky mouthfeel, but disappointingly less coffee than I remember it having. As it came into contact with the air more aroma was released, but it still didn't give the depth of flavour I thought I’d experienced in it previously – maybe this is one where the cask version holds all the cards? I’ll certainly be looking out for it on cask over the next few months to try out that theory.




Each coffee beer was quite different to the others, and it was a push to get back to some more homebrewing, to find that our own-made beer (albeit from kit) wasn’t too far off the mark from the commercial offerings tasted. I think my favourite would firmly rest with the Hitachino Nest though – the ‘accidental’ aging gave it the most interesting and complex flavours of the night; perhaps there is something to be said for hoarding after all!

Homebrew "Drink-Off"

While at a Gin Tasting event a while back, run by  @YetAnotherGin, I bumped into Neil and Chris, who then helped spur me on to start some homebrewing. We had met up a few times since, with other interested parties, to discuss our homebrew adventures (mostly so I could pick their brains!) and on one occasion the idea came about of picking a 'topic', each brewing something along those lines, then meeting up to drink and check out each others' beers along the common theme.

When we picked a style, it was still winter - so we opted for a stout or dark beer - but in the end when trying to fit this in around everyone's schedules and remembering to get the brewing done, it was 5th May before we could get our acts together and meet. Present were myself, Neil, Chris, Sam, Emma, and Matt. Sadly our fellow homebrew club members Dave and Andrew couldn't make it, so hopefully we'll have another go when they can attend too.

So we had all brought some bottles of something roughly equating to a stout, and then we all tried to impress each other with the outcomes of our homebrewing efforts. The prize? An evening of consuming lovely beers with good company - so a win all round!

Chris had also hand-made some amazing pretzels (so good I had to smuggle some home for the next day), and Neil had procured several varieties of cheese, so we had some excellent scran to keep us from absorbing too much alcohol while getting the hard work of sampling underway.



In an effort to provide some objective feedback rather than just a 'that's nice!'  for each beer, I took some tasting notes as we went along:

Sam - Spiced Porter
Brewed with nutmeg, spices, and Tia Maria. Using Muntons London Docklands Porter kit, modified with 3 star anise and 1 cinnamon stick added at the start of fermentation.Before bottling, half a pint of Tia Maria was added along with sugar measured out for secondary fermentation. Sam expected this had turned out around 4.5%. Flavour wise - it had great hints of spice that weren't overpowering but were definitely present, and the Tia Maria coffee liqueur added a lot of depth and structure, with the sugars giving a lot of effervesence. It was certainly moreish but a rich and warming drink - you'd want to come home to this one on a chilly winter night.

Tania & David - Coffee Stout
Using a Coopers Premium Irish Stout 4.5% brewkit, this was modified in the fermenting vessel with a litre of fresh brewed Italian rich roast filter coffee. This was only our third brew and we really wanted that rich coffee flavour to come out strongly, but in a balanced way. We had consumed the main batch from a pressure barrel at home, but we'd also made our first attempt at bottling, specifically for this 'dark beer challenge'. Sadly Dave wasn't here to taste the results, but I was pleased to report back that the bottled version still retained those strong flavour notes, with a good bitterness from the coffee and the bottle having a bit more body than the original draught. It wasn't perfect, but it was drinkable enough, and I was just relieved it had some flavour and no-one poured theirs away (at least, while I was looking ;-)

Matt - Scammonden Dark
A 2-tin kit from Brupak that produces a 4.5% beer, with dry hopping sack included. Fruity on the nose but this had a really dry, roasty finish - a good contrast for the earlier sweeter porter of Sam's. A good dark brown colour with light carbonation and a creamy brown head. Third beer in, and so far all were ones I'd have been happy to have been served in a pub.

Neil - Oatmeal Stout
Using a Coopers Stout kit, so the same as I had used for the coffee stout, but this time Neil had added a bag of oats in the FV. This had a really smooth mouthfeel but with a bit of liveliness. Interesting to see how some small modifications can make the same kit quite different, and it would definitely encourage me to try using oats next time I make up the kit.

Chris - Chocolate Milk Stout
Chris is a fairly experienced all-grain brewer, so I think we were all expecting his beer to come out as the richest and with the most body, and it didn't disappoint! He had added cocoa nibs to the secondary FV, filtered with a hop bag over the tube. Chris explained that the lactose sugar used doesn't ferment out and so leaves the sweetness within the beer. This was reddish-brown, weighty & very full bodied, with good hints of sweetness but a surprisingly dry finish rounded off with rich chocolate flavours.

Matt's homebrewed mead with orange, cinnamon & cloves also deserves special mention - it's unfortunate Andrew couldn't make it or we'd have had a mead-off on our hands also - but I was very impressed with this drop and wished I'd had a bottle to take home.

So Emma asked us at the end of our tastings - which beer did we most want to drink again? And I think we all agreed it was Chris' Chocolate Stout - it's particularly rich body and lovely chocolate tones made it a 'more please!' kind of beer. Sadly no cash prize in it for Chris, but hopefully a smug feeling of validation that the effort put into a full mash brew doesn't go unnoticed!

So our first 'Drink-Off' was judged to be a success - it gave people a focus for their brewing endeavours and a chance to share and see what other people thought, and what other people are making. Hope we can organise another one - perhaps a theme of something pale and summery - though this time it might be winter before we get round to drinking it!

Resolution 2 – Homebrewing from kits to Homebrewing from extract

Why homebrew at all, when there is so much wonderful beer being made round the world these days? It’s not an issue of cost – I have no problem with the idea of paying for quality beers, and would rather go without than drink something iffy just because it’s cheap – so I guess it’s just the same as being interested in food, and interested in ingredients – eventually you want to have a little play around with them yourself!

I only tried my hand at homebrewing last year after an inspiring talk with a couple of Twitterers, @nebolland and @Chrrr77, and initially got off to a good start with my cohort in brewing operations appointed as ‘Chief Scientific Officer’ and myself as ‘Creative Director’. We were so excited to purchase our own ‘FV’ (fermenting vessel, a grand name for a big plastic bucket) and other brewing accoutrements from Dee Jay Homebrew Supplies in Rubery, and it kinda felt that day that we were bringing “our own mini brewery” home on the bus!

Irish Stout fermenting

We knew we needed to start with the easy options, using kits, till we’d got a few drinkable brews under our belts and could think ahead to experimenting. The consensus on homebrew forums seemed to be that the Woodforde’s Wherry kit was a good place to start, and should give good results. Within a couple of weeks we had another one on the go – a Coopers Ginger Beer Kit. They were both ready for drinking in early Autumn, but after that some external events meant no more brewing took place in 2011. So come the end of the year we were raring to get going again, and now have a Thomas Coopers Irish Stout kit on the go – more on that another time!

But my ambition this year is to get from purely kit brewing, to malt extract brewing – this does require a lot more work, more time to prepare, different stages to go through, and if you’re not careful, a kitchen awash with boiling, worty liquid – my biggest fear in all of this, as I’m not at all sure how I’m going to be handling a large stock pot of boiling malt & hops on top of my basic gas cooker, and then manouevering this through some sort of sieve to take out the hops, into the FV.

But if I can work out the logistics, and take each step as it comes, it should offer up the freedom to make our ‘own’ beers –where we decide the style, have some control over strength, and best of all – I can stick in a shedload of my favourite hops for that “Ahhh Simcoe!” Bisto kid moment.