Is it really any surprise that two of Seattle’s favorite beverages, coffee and beer, would end up in a bottle together? What is it about the combination that appeals, and has virtually every brewmaster in town offering some type of coffee-accented brewski? Cody Morris of Epic Ales says it really boils down to one simple criterion: If something works well with sweetness, it will work well in beer, since beer is high in sugar content (about 2 to 5 percent by volume). Coffee’s sharp, roasty bitterness is obviously often balanced, in our morning cup, by the addition of sugar.
This fall, Morris is bringing back a beer he made when he first opened his SoDo brewpub, Gastropod: the Otto Optimizer. A Turkish-coffee porter, it has cardamom and coffee in it. But not just any coffee—literally six pounds of coffee imported from Turkey. “The coffee from Turkey and Greece and Arabic countries is made by a process so that when you boil it, it doesn’t become too astringent”—and it’s usually very sweet, he says, which works well with beer’s natural maltiness. The coffee is due in next week, then he’ll need about a week and a half to ferment it for the three-barrel batch, which will be available in stores and at Gastropod. Morris, being Morris, is also talking about tinkering with Otto Optimizer further by adding wood chips soaked in Irish cream to give it that really Irish coffee-cocktail flavor. Why wood chips? Federal law prohibits fortifying beer directly with other booze.
Besides at Gastropod, the beer will be available at the second Coffee Beer Fest at the Burgundian in Tangletown on November 8 and 9. I spoke with Steve Little, the cicerone (the beer equivalent of a sommelier) at the Burgundian who runs the event. Besides Morris’ beer, he’s excited to also have Elysian’s Punkaccino (pumpkin beer with coffee). Elysian also makes a Split Shot Espresso Milk Stout in the winter; see below) and about the matches he’s made this year between coffee roasters and brewers—eight of each, who are paired and tasked with making a coffee beer. Couples include Reuben’s Brewery with Kuma Roasters and Zoka Roasters with Seapine Brewery. There are no rules, just show up and hopefully serve something delicious.
I posed the same question to Little as to Morris: Why coffee and beer? “When you’re making beer,” Little says, “it can go in two directions; chocolate-ly or coffee-like. There’s this huge unexplored territory between the relationship of coffee and beer, and we’re trying to get the experts to expand on it.” He adds: “They’re also delicious. That’s why we do a full tap takeover and get all java’d up.”
Other coffee beers to check out around town:
Stoup Brewing’s Porter In it, you’ll get notes of dark chocolate, roasted coffee, and a light, malty sweetness. stoupbrewing.com
Elysian’s Split Shot Espresso Milk Stout A milk stout is one that’s been sweetened by unfermentable lactose. To this, espresso has been added. It’s kind of like that slightly sweet, milky morning latte, but with the ass-kick of hops. elysianbrewing.com
Peddler Brewing’s Coffee Saison A saison is a pale ale with a spicy, fruity, refreshing taste. As a result, they’re particularly popular in summer. But the addition of coffee adds an interesting, striking note. peddlerbrewing.com
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