COFFEE BEANS & BEINGS / BREWING CRAFT BEER WITH COFFEE

Wreck Alley Imperial Stout with Bird Rock Coffee Roasters Ethiopian coffee beans

RISE AND SHINE—Beer reporters are staying awake trying to keep up with the explosion in craft beer explorations.  Lots of press activity lately is keeping tabs on the free range pairing of craft beer with unexpected ingredients such as coffee.

            Pizza Port, a multi-venue craft beer brewery/food operation in Southern California won a gold medal at a World Beer Cup competition in 2012 for one of its coffee beers.  Since then Bacon & Eggs has been award gold in 2013 and 2014 competitions. Called Pizza Port Bacon & Eggs Breakfast Coffee Imperial Porter, this specialty release remains one of the most sought-after in the San Diego area.  Last check, Pizza Port’s coffee creation was on tap at its Ocean Beach location.  Pizza Port uses coffee roasted at Bird Rock Coffee Roasters.

            A call-in reviewer on www.ratebeer.com’s site last week called Bacon & Eggs by Pizza Port “Probably the best beer I had at Pizza Port Ocean Beach. Coffee and light roast and cocoa. Rich semi sweet beer with mild roast.”

            By no means is craft beer with coffee the sole realm of Pizza Port.   Other top San Diego brewers have been buzzing their beer for some time.   Wreck Alley Imperial Stout from Karl Strauss Brewing Company not only contains coffee roasted locally from Ethiopian beans but has surrounded it with a great story.  You gotta love the copy writer’s art:  “Beneath the tides off Mission Beach rests Wreck Alley, Beneath the tides off Mission Beach rests Wreck Alley – a dark and mysterious seascape of forgotten ships.

            “Amidst the rusted wreckage is a marine ecosystem, an artificial reef teeming with life. Our Wreck Alley is as dark as the depths of its namesake, an Imperial Stout of uncharted complexity. Brewed with darkly kilned malts, cocoa nibs, and Ethiopian coffee beans, Wreck Alley boasts rich layers of dark chocolate, toffee, and espresso-like roast. Save a bottle. This one has a stout shelf-life.” Ba-da-bing!

            And, Karl Strauss also buys brew beans from Bird Rock Coffee Roasters, www.birdrockcoffeeroasters.com

            Two major San Diego brewers tap local coffee roasters for the beans to add to brews.

Coronado Blue Bridge Coffee Stout – Using 10 pounds of Café Moto coffee for every 10 barrels of beer, this 5.4% ABV creation is now available year round in 22 oz bottles and on draft.

            

Caffé Calabria and Ballast Point have teamed to produce Ballast Point’s big Victory At Sea Coffee Vanilla Imperial Porter.

            Coffee with beer is popular with brewers from coast to coast with examples being Sierra Nevada’s Coffee Stout and upstate New York’s 2XPresso by Southern Tier Brewing Co.  The latter is a milk stout with added espresso and lemon peels for true Italian style zip.  The result is a very black stout that’s creamy and rich that would be right at home along Rome’s Via Venato.

            Coffee in your craft beer is part of the fun that brewers are stoutly going where no beer has gone before.

You'll find Pizza Port's breakfast in a bottle menu item top/center at Pizza Port's Ocean Beach venue

HERE'S WHERE THE BEANS COME FROM:

CAFFE CALABRIA--North Park

Bird Rock Coffee Roasters in Bird Rock between La Jolla and Pacific Beach

Thank you San Diego Magazine for image

Cafe Moto--Downtown San Diego