Brewery

Visiting Blue Bottle, and a Blue Bottle Coffee Imperial Stout Update

As mentioned previously in our blog, we’re very proud to be the first brewery to team up with Blue Bottle Coffee for a production brew.  Partially because we know their name pulls weight in the coffee world, but more because our break room is often littered with the brown paper carcasses of used-up bags of Blue Bottle coffee beans.

As a follow-up to the original brew, conceived by former lead brewer Alex Nowell, our brewers took a field trip up to Blue Bottle’s roastery in Oakland for tour and a cupping session (settle down… that’s just what you call a coffee tasting). There the guys sought to understand the nuances of what they can expect from this beer, to ask opinions from the Blue Bottle folks of best practices for infusing the coffee into the beer, and to dive into what makes their morning life blood so delicious, to watch the roasting process, and ultimately to just enjoy the day.

The Blue Bottle Coffee Imperial Stout is fermenting away now, and soon they will be adding whole beans (dry-beaning it, if you will) that will slowly infuse the beer with their enticing flavors. It should be ready to go in about three weeks. (Update: The release of the Drake’s and Blue Bottle Coffee Imperial Stout will be at 6pm on Thursday, May 23rd at The Trappist in Oakland. Drake’s Head Brewer John Gillooly and team will be on hand to talk beer, and the Blue Bottle guys will be there to nerd out on the coffee side)