Cumberland Ray's Espresso Stout now on tap

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to announce that the "Cumberland Ray's Espresso Stout" is now on tap at Ray's Monkey House Coffeeshop. Very cool and we're excited.

We added Nicaraguan coffee during the boil, and then I cold-brewed some Ethiopian Sidamo Korate which was added during the cold conditioning (post-fermentation). Of course, all the coffee was roasted with Fair Trade Organic beans.

Final product came out nicely. Roasty and chocolatey, with definite coffee flavor. Almost similar to an oatmeal stout in character. So come on by and check it out!

What is super cool about the stout is that I can point northwest towards the wall and say the beer was brewed about twenty feet away in that direction. I love that two businesses can collaborate the way Cumberland brews and us are doing. (creating a joint product with coffee that we roast and beer that they brew, all in house, and with our buildings a mere six feet apart -closer maybe).

I'll post an updated beer list here shortly. (I still need to type it up!)...

Cheers

-Nimbus

Very excited to try it.

I love coffee stouts. How much do you have? Are you going to have all winter? (hope so)

If this is the same espresso stout they have next door at Cumberland Brews (which I assume it is), I had some last Saturday and it was excellent. Kudos.

Nimbus, the stout was excellent but I would recommend hot coffee infusion instead of the cold process.
you won't need to worry about high acidity because the natural sweetness of the stout will mask it but you will have a bolder coffee flavor.
Do you use either of these beans in your espresso blend or as single origin espressos?

Nimbus, the stout was excellent but I would recommend hot coffee infusion instead of the cold process.
you won't need to worry about high acidity because the natural sweetness of the stout will mask it but you will have a bolder coffee flavor.
Do you use either of these beans in your espresso blend or as single origin espressos?

These are turning into great favorites of mine. I'm not sure if that's hedonistic, or pharmaceutical.

Nimbus, the stout was excellent but I would recommend hot coffee infusion instead of the cold process.
you won't need to worry about high acidity because the natural sweetness of the stout will mask it but you will have a bolder coffee flavor.
Do you use either of these beans in your espresso blend or as single origin espressos?

These are turning into great favorites of mine. I'm not sure if that's hedonistic, or pharmaceutical.

Both.

On technical side (to answer Matthew), yes, I agree that the acidity of the coffee shouldn't matter in a beer. We beer geeks know that beer is fairly acidic once the fermentation is complete (which is why no harmful bacteria or wild yeast grows effectively in it). And the flavor profile of a cold brewed coffee is radically different than that of a hot brewed (the normal way) coffee. As far as which turns out better in the final product, there is really only one way to find out. The cold brewing definitely does "mellow" out or soften the coffee, which may be favorable to some folks. Dunno. Balance is usually fairly trial and error, and all one does as a brewer is make educated guesses, tweak it, then try try again.

Also, yes, Cumberland had it on tap for awhile. I think it isn't on right now over there. Don't know what they're doing in terms of rotation, but we do have it. The supply is limited, but it should be ongoing (they'll brew more as needed). I'd like to carry it year-round, so if we can maintain a bit of volume that should be possible. I think Mark is cool with that...

I personally think stouts should be a year-round drink. None of this seasonal stuff...

Cheers,

-Nimbus

I personally think stouts should be a year-round drink. None of this seasonal stuff...

You are so right about this.

I personally think stouts should be a year-round drink. None of this seasonal stuff...

Amen, brother!

I'm on that, too. The great thing is that there are different styles of stout, one of which is suitable for any occasion. I can recall drinking oatmeal stout with barbecue during high summer, outside. The Liteweights will never get to experience that olfactory joy ... pity.