As legend has it, a supermodel asked a London Bartender (Dick Bradsell at Fred's Bar), for a drink that would "Wake me up and then F@*# me up", the espresso martini was born. Does the craft beer industry have an equivalent?
Beer drinkers often also love coffee, so it comes as no surprise that brewers have been adding coffee to beer for ages. Many stouts, porters etc. have strong flavours of coffee anyway, due to the roasted malts used to make them.
Coffee is added to a variety of coffee styles and is introduced at different stages of the brewing process. Coffee grounds can be added during fermentation, this gives strong influence but can easily over extract the coffee and impart harsh, unpleasant flavours. Adding brewed coffee later to a finished beer is another choice. Cold brewed coffee is often chosen as it is more concentrated and can add the desired flavours without diluting the beer too much.
Sauce Brewing from Marrickville in Sydney has just released two new coffee beers, a Black IPA called Long Black and Milkshake IPA called Flat White. Both coming in at 6.5% alcohol, the coffee used for these was roasted in house too.
