![]() Since Halfwit shares a roasting space with Gaslight Coffee Roasters, Spiteful immediately thought of collaborating with Gaslight next. Being a nanobrewery themselves, they wanted to work with a roaster who produces a high-quality, small-batch product here in Chicago. Last year, Spiteful Brewing decided to release another coffee stout and set about finding another roaster whom they philosophically aligned with. In 2013, Spiteful sourced coffee from Halfwit Coffee Roasters for a coffee stout called I Hate My Boss. Coffee Stout – Spiteful Brewing and Gaslight Coffee Roasters Amber ales are famous for their subtleties and balance, and Mourning Wood is a tremendous example of coffee complementing the style rather than overtaking it. The coffee component is definitely present throughout the glass but it’s not overwhelming. After being infused with Dark Matter’s El Salvador San Jose pulp-natural coffee, Mourning Wood is then aged in American oak barrels.ĭespite this being an oak-aged coffee beer, don’t expect its flavor profile to blow you away - this is, first and foremost, an amber ale, which means it’s focused on the malts rather than the hops. Mourning Wood is a coffee amber ale from the demented minds of Local Option Bierwerker and Dark Matter Coffee Company. ![]() 3) Mourning Wood – Local Option Bierwerker and Dark Matter Coffee Company While BCCS is a traditional coffee stout, its profile and the amount of thought that went into creating that profile show there’s still plenty of room to innovate in the style. In 2014, though, craft breweries and craft coffee roasters teamed up for a wide variety of styles - even IPAs and golden ales! Further, we tasted coffee predominately used in stouts and porters. Before, breweries weren’t really looking for coffee profiles that complemented their beers -they were just looking for “that generic coffee flavor” as an individual note in their beer. We can’t do a roundup of Chicago-area coffee beers without first giving credit where credit is due - to Goose Island’s other collaboration with Intelligentsia: Bourbon County Coffee Stout.Ģ014 marked a sea change in how craft breweries approached the way they create coffee beers. 2) Bourbon County Coffee Stout – Goose Island Brewery and Intelligentsia Coffee Moreover, it is, in my humble opinion, delicious. It is both challenging and inviting, different yet familiar. It has a really low ABV, making it very sessionable, and it displays a great balance between beer and coffee, not going too far in either direction. But it’s also a really great option for consumers looking for an introduction to experimental coffee-beer styles. Craft beer and specialty coffee lovers alike can fully geek out over this one. First, it’s a novel approach to golden ales. This beer can be appreciated on two levels. Intelligentsia changes the components of the blend seasonally based on what coffees are fresh off harvest, but the profile remains remarkably consistent. (Intelligentsia’s current House Blend is comprised of coffees from El Salvador, Rwanda, and Tanzania.) To create the beer, Goose Island’s Brewing Innovation Manager Mike Siegel soaked Intelligentsia’s whole bean House Blend in the beer base, similar to the way a brewer will dry-hop a beer. 1) Fulton Street Blend – Goose Island Brewery and Intelligentsia Coffee The BCCS remains an incredible beer, but coffee stouts and porters are somewhat old-hat as collaboration between players in the craft beer and coffee industries has become decidedly more experimental and adventurous.įor their spark, Goose Island and Intelligentsia recently re-collaborated to create an undeniably adventurous coffee golden ale called Fulton Street Blend, which leads off our list of seven great Chicago coffee beers (plus one honorable mention). Unfortunately, this has arguably been the case in recent years with Goose Island and Intelligentsia. Most relationships that have been carrying on that long, even if still strong, are bound to go a bit stale unless both parties are open to new sparks. Further, the two companies have been working together for over 10 years most notably on their renown annual collaboration, Bourbon County Coffee Stout. ![]() These two titans have storied histories, possessing nearly 50 years of combined brewing and roasting experience. When it comes to Chicago-based craft imbiberies, two companies immediately come to mind: Goose Island Beer Company and Intelligentsia Coffee. ![]() Today I present to you a brand new offering from two of Chicago’s longstanding craft beverage heroes, and a handful of other great coffee beers from the great City of Chicago. Being a specialty coffee enthusiast, however, I decided to pursue a specific kind of craft beer: those that are infused with coffee. During that time, I scouted out and, indeed, drank some of the finest craft beers I could find. Here in Chicago, we just wrapped up our annual Craft Beer Week. ![]()
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