I’m into taste, funny that being in the coffee trade, but I do like to taste things. I love coffee, good food, good wine, single malt whiskey and I love real ale. But real ale is getting harder and harder to come by as the smaller breweries are closed or become successful and start to take there eye of the ball. Also you just can’t get it at home, so I had the idea of home brewing.
Now I’m at the very beginning of my journey in the home brew stakes, and have yet to produce anything I can drink (dam patience and waiting for stuff to ferment), but I see so many similarities with home roasting. It’s trying to actualise a sense of personal achievement with your beverage. Taking control but also adding a personal touch. Will it be as good as a micro breweries beer, probably not. Will it be better than the mass produced chemical “cream flow” offerings, I hope so. The same with coffee, will the home roast taste as good as the micro roasted, probably not, will it taste better than the mass produced offerings, for sure.
The similarities don’t stop there, we have a local shop that just sells home brew stuff, a true specialist in today’s pot noodle, instant coffee, microwavable world. I stood in the shop for 20-30 mins today asking questions looking reading and there must have been 5 people come in over that time. Each said hello, each very nice and pleasant, all willing to share information. One went as far to talk me through what he did the first time he siphoned from the fermentation barrel into the bottles/barrel. The owner also very keen to impart knowledge, a community of people wanting to help.
I’ve been thinking what a coffee ale maybe like. Swap all the water involved for brewed coffee. The joining of two beautiful things
So I’m now officially a geek in another thing. This time is staying a hobby and not becoming my life, but beware if you ever come around my house, you may get offered a cup of dark brown liquid that’s not coffee. Any one who has any home brew knowledge please share.
so i googled coffee and beer together after reading your post, steve, and here’s the first i came up with.
http://www.ineedcoffee.com/01/03/espressostout/
i do know there are a couple microbreweries here in the states (and one in texas, in the little town of blanco, texas, believe it or not!) that add coffee to their commercially sold brews. so it’s not a crazy thought of yours.
here are a couple more links.
http://www.realalebrewing.com/
http://www.beertown.org/events/wbc/competition/reg_info/style_descr.html
Aww Steve you are hopeless really aren’t you. Is there no hope for you at all? Well I should know the answer to that myself shouldn’t I???
I find it interesting that those who really appreciate fine foods/wines etc also when shown, really appreciate fine coffee. My neighbour and I have a great deal. He supplies very special red wine and I supply the coffee to combat the awful side effects!
I dare you Steve to produce a Coffee Ale. Maybe using Kalosi or even a Monsooned Malabar to produce a nice dark spicey Christmas Ale. Ooooh I can taste it now!!
So how is the home-brew going Steve? I used to have a go from time to time, eventually using only “all malt” kits which did give much better results. The ale was great, but sometimes there was a little yeast bite. My cousin over in Canada is a bit of a home-brew guru and used to run a club out there. His brews were always magnificent.
Its going well, kind of. The stout I did first is wonderful (and disappearing quickly). I then did a larger which is awful, and is swill, I now have a Bitter on the go, so looking forward to that one.
I’ve found it really enjoyable (if not a little tasty too:) )