May-June-2017_flipbook Revised

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Coffee Exchange and vanilla from Ronald

Reginald’s Vanillas. Although the flavors

created by the brewing and additives are

rich and decadent, it’s still a great beer to

drink in the summertime.

Shiner/Spoetzl Brewing celebrated its

108th birthday with a limited release of

Cold Brew Coffee Ale, which, though not

labeled as such, was actually a lighter porter

made with Austin-based Chameleon Cold-

Brew coffee.

Sam Adams’ Nitro beer lineup includes a

Nitro Coffee Stout that uses a combination

of Indonesian Sumatra Mandheling and

Indian Monsoon Malabar coffee beans.

The Indian Monsoon Malabar beans are

aged in a process reminiscent of the bygone

days of importing and exporting, when the

sun never set on the British Empire. The

roasters re-create the humid wind and rain

that would affect a boat sailing in monsoon

season for three months or so. (This is

actually not even the craziest way people

age their coffee beans; just look up “civet

coffee” and you’ll see what I mean.)

Wiseacre Brewing (from Memphis) and

Left Hand Brewing (from the Boulder,

CO area) are new additions to the Gulf

Coast beer market; both bring well-

regarded coffee beers for us to enjoy. One

of Wiseacre’s most popular beers is a coffee

milk stout called Gotta Get Up To Get

Down, made with coffee beans from the

Konga region of Ethiopia. Left Hand’s

Hard Wired Nitro coffee porter is another

beer packaged in the bottle with

nitrogen (like Sam Adams’

beer discussed earlier) for a

creamier consistency when

poured quickly into a glass.

Bringing together two of the

world’s favorite beverages

is nothing less than genius.

And the collaborations

between microbreweries and

small coffee roasters are great

for communities, creating

amazing opportunities for

combining hundreds of

flavors with the complex

interplay between coffee

beans, hops and grains.

Coffee Beer Brownies

Makes 12 large or 24 small brownies

WHAT YOU WILL NEED

1 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

cup all-purpose flour

cup semisweet chocolate chips

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon salt

31 ounces semisweet chocolate,

coarsely chopped

1 cup stout or robust porter

like Chafunkta Brewing’s Old 504

large eggs, at room temperature

cup granulated sugar

cup packed light brown sugar

teaspoons pure vanilla extract

HOW TO PREP

Place a rack in the center of the oven. Preheat

oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 9” by

13” baking pan. Set aside.

Put 1 tablespoon of the flour in a small

bowl. Add the chocolate chips. Toss to coat

the chocolate (this will keep the chips from

sinking to the bottom of the batter). Set

aside.

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, cocoa

powder and salt with a fork or wire whisk.

Melt the coarsely chopped semisweet

chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pot of

boiling water. In a small pan over medium

heat, melt the butter until it just turns golden

brown, about 5 minutes. Pour the butter

into the chocolate and stir until combined.

Remove the bowl from the heat and slowly

stir in the beer.

In a separate medium bowl, whisk together

eggs, vanilla and sugars until thick, about

2 minutes. Add the chocolate mixture

and whisk to combine. Add the

wet ingredients to the dry

ingredients and stir until all

of the ingredients are well

combined. Fold in the floured

chocolate chips.

Pour mixture into the

greased pan and bake for

35 to 40 minutes or until

the edges of the brownies

are firm and the center is set

(use a toothpick to test for

doneness). Remove from the

oven and let cool completely

in the pan before cutting into

squares.

“It’s the roasted barley that both gives the stout its

trademark dark color as well as the chocolate and coffee

notes that are naturally occurring in stouts, even if there’s

no actual chocolate, coffee or vanilla added to the beer.”

COFFEE