By Iron Chef Leftovers
What happens when a coffee expert drinks cheap coffee in a blind tasting? Well, you get some interesting reactions. There are a couple surprises in here, so I am not posting any spoilers. From Buzzfeed:
Tag: Coffee
Beer of the Week: Reuben’s Brews Yirgacheffe Rye
By Iron Chef Leftovers
One of the highlights of the last couple Seattle Beer Weeks has been Ryefest at Reuben’s. They go all out and brew a bunch of different rye based beers that many of which are generally only available that weekend since they are small batch and it is a popular event. This year’s Ryefest brought us a total of 12 rye beers including the impossible to pronounce Yirgacheffe Rye, which is a coffee from Ethiopia. The beer clocked in at 32 IBU and 5.4% ABV and I believe was based on the American Rye.
The beer pours hazy yellow in color with a touch of white on the head. Touches of coffee, rye and grain dominate the nose of this beer. It starts off on the palate with light notes of lemon peel and hops before adding a touch of sweetness from the rye, with just hints of bite, finishing with a very mild coffee note with a touch of bitterness and hints of chocolate and dried fruit. The beer is light and crisp and easy to drink with a very nice hint of coffee that does not overpower the other flavors in the beer. It is also a nice change of pace from coffee stouts and porters that allows you to drink something lighter and still enjoy the nuances of the coffee contained within the beer.
Reuben’s Yirgacheffe Rye takes out the jeep and goes on safari with 4 Seregetis out of 5.
Beer of the Week: Reuben’s Brews Kenya Cream Ale
By Iron Chef Leftovers
Coffee beers can sometimes suffer from being too much coffee and not enough beer, even when the brewers are doing everything right and using really high quality coffee. It takes an even hand to get a balance where you can taste the subtle flavors of the coffee and still get the subtle flavors of the beer. It gets much harder when you try to make a coffee beer that is not a stout or a porter – the coffee can easily overwhelm the non-roasted flavors in lighter beers. I was intrigued when Reuben’s released their Kenya Cream, combining their Cream Ale with Kuma coffee. The beer clocked in at just 5% ABV and 17 IBU.
The beer pours hazy golden in color with light notes of stone fruit and chocolate and hints of milk and grain on the nose. The beer starts off on the palate with a creamy feel to it with notes of yeast and bread before moving into berry and stone fruit flavors with a touch of roasty chocolate – definitely complex flavors coming from the coffee. The beer finishes with a touch of bitter black coffee and plenty of fruit notes and hints of chocolate, coupled with notes of steamed milk. The beer finishes like a nice café au lait. The coffee is definitely complex with a light fruit profile that compliments the milk like qualities of the cream ale without completely dominating it. The beer is increasingly complex as it warms and the balance is superb showing dramatic flavor from both the beer and the coffee. Kenya Cream surprises with being able to pull off a light coffee beer without feeling like you are just drinking a cup of coffee.
Reuben’s Brews Kenya Cream comes out of the savanna with 4 Masai out of 5.
Beer of the Week: Skookum Brewery Imperial Breakfast Stout
By Iron Chef Leftovers
Skookum is a funny sounding word, but I really solid (albeit small) brewery up in Arlington, WA. For the longest time, if you wanted their beers, you needed to make the trek up I-5 and wind your way through Arlington to get to their brewery, which kept inconsistent hours. Things have changed and their beers occasionally make the trip down to Seattle and show up on tap at various places. Seeing the Imperial Breakfast Stout on tap at Chuck’s, I decided to take advantage of the opportunity to try it.
The beer pours jet black in color with a coffee colored head and shows off with lots of dark roasted malt and coffee – definitely reminded me of my morning cup of coffee. The beer starts out slightly sweet before moving on to its heavier flavors of toffee and dark chocolate with a hint of cocoa nibs before finishing with a light bitterness couple with black coffee and roasted grains. The bitterness is just enough to give it a little bite without being off-putting and really made it remind me of a good cup of black coffee (as far as I can tell, there is no actual coffee in the beer). Well balanced with deep and bold flavors, the Imperial Breakfast Stout is a great beer to have with your toast and morning paper instead of your regular cup of joe.
Skookum Brewery’s Imperial Breakfast Stout draws in with a strong 3 double espresso shots out of 5.
Beer of the Week: Populuxe Coffee Stout
By Iron Chef Leftovers
Coffee and beer are a great combination of flavors, especially when you take an astoundingly good coffee, say from Seattle’s Slate Coffee Roasters and combine it with a stellar beer, say the stout from Populuxe Brewing. When done right, coffee and beer have an incredible depth of flavor that can either enhance each other or provide wonderful contrasts, depending on how it is done. Populuxe did a special batch of their stout blended with coffee from Slate Coffee Roasters to celebrate the winter solstice.
The beer pours jet black in color with a light brown head and shows strong notes of coffee, chocolate, roasted malt and hints of caramel and toffee on the nose. The initial sip of the beer yields a really strong coffee; not roasted coffee grounds but rather sweet espresso with cappuccino type notes as the beer warms up. The flavors deepen as the beer progresses with significant coffee notes, strong roast coffee, chocolate, caramel, roasted malt, finishing slightly bitter with that lingering espresso, almost burnt (mild and pleasant) aftertaste mixed in with dark chocolate and toffee. The alcohol is subtle and the coffee flavors dominate the beer in a very pleasant way, building upon each other each. This one of the better coffee beers I’ve had, the flavors blend better and mellow as the beer warms. You can really taste the style as the beer warms on top of all the coffee flavors, yielding great balance. Not a huge amount of bitterness feels like drinking a really good cup of coffee rather than shot of espresso.
Populuxe Coffee Stout orders 5 non-fat skinny soy mocha lattes with whip out of 5.
Beer of the Week: Reuben's Brews Mocha Stout
By Iron Chef Leftovers
With the frequency that that review beers from Reuben’s Brews, you would think that the brewery is paying me to do it. I can assure you that is not the case. I review so many of their beers for a variety of reasons, mostly because the brewery is less than a 10 minute walk from my house. A few months back, they put on a Mocha Porter – I love coffee based beers and this one I had to try. Oh yeah, it also included a nice dose of cocoa nibs – so it really got my interest. It was available on nitro when I had it. It clocked in at a healthy 8.4% ABV and 34 IBU.
The beer poured jet black as expected. For a beer that had both cocoa and coffee in it, the nose was fairly restrained. There are definite notes of both coffee and chocolate, but you were still able to pick out hints of both grain and malt in between them – this was a huge surprise to me for such a big beer. The palate is also very restrained – there are distinct flavors of light roast coffee with hints of sweetness to start out, followed quickly by a pleasant maltiness which then transitions into a moderately intense chocolate finish with hints of bitter coffee. The finish is extremely long and you still get hints of dark chocolate well after you take a sip. It is not as intense chocolate as most chocolate beers and the coffee is more restrained that I would have expected, but the beer is extremely well balanced and you can actually taste the beer.
While most coffee beers are like drinking a good espresso or cappuccino, this one is more like heading down to a coffee shop and ordering a light roast drip with no milk – you know you are drinking coffee but you taste more of the complexity of the bean than the roast of the espresso.
If this beer ever comes back, you need to head to Reuben’s and have one (or two).
Reuben’s Brews Mocha Stout percolates in the pot with a perfect 5 coffea arabica out of 5.
Beer of the Week: Reuben’s Brews Mocha Stout
By Iron Chef Leftovers
With the frequency that that review beers from Reuben’s Brews, you would think that the brewery is paying me to do it. I can assure you that is not the case. I review so many of their beers for a variety of reasons, mostly because the brewery is less than a 10 minute walk from my house. A few months back, they put on a Mocha Porter – I love coffee based beers and this one I had to try. Oh yeah, it also included a nice dose of cocoa nibs – so it really got my interest. It was available on nitro when I had it. It clocked in at a healthy 8.4% ABV and 34 IBU.
The beer poured jet black as expected. For a beer that had both cocoa and coffee in it, the nose was fairly restrained. There are definite notes of both coffee and chocolate, but you were still able to pick out hints of both grain and malt in between them – this was a huge surprise to me for such a big beer. The palate is also very restrained – there are distinct flavors of light roast coffee with hints of sweetness to start out, followed quickly by a pleasant maltiness which then transitions into a moderately intense chocolate finish with hints of bitter coffee. The finish is extremely long and you still get hints of dark chocolate well after you take a sip. It is not as intense chocolate as most chocolate beers and the coffee is more restrained that I would have expected, but the beer is extremely well balanced and you can actually taste the beer.
While most coffee beers are like drinking a good espresso or cappuccino, this one is more like heading down to a coffee shop and ordering a light roast drip with no milk – you know you are drinking coffee but you taste more of the complexity of the bean than the roast of the espresso.
If this beer ever comes back, you need to head to Reuben’s and have one (or two).
Reuben’s Brews Mocha Stout percolates in the pot with a perfect 5 coffea arabica out of 5.
FlatbreadGarden 