For Thanksgiving Day – How About a Little Coffee in Your Beer?

Happy Thanksgiving to you all! In honor of the day, here’s a story of thanks that involves coffee. How many ways can you say thanks with coffee? If you’re a New Zealander rugby fan, you might just add it to your beer in celebration of the win over the French team. That’s exactly what a brewery down under did, naming it “Four More Years’ Beer”, in hopes of winning the 2015 World Cup.

Says Moa brewery owner Josh Scott in a press release, “Given we had France over a barrel, the French [oak casks] are appropriate, and the coffee is a nod to the fact Kiwis will all be getting up early or staying up late to watch the next Cup in 2015.” The Guatemalan coffee was selected following a cupping session with a boutique roaster. “As with beer, there’s a huge difference between good and bad coffee beans. Our cupping session not only helped turn us into proper coffee snobs but, more importantly, it ensured we got the finest quality beans that best fitted our beer.” It was the due to the low levels of bitterness and oil content, high aromatics, and chocolate aromas of the Guatemalan beans that made them the choice. The coffee infused beer will age in the casks for four years until bottling.

The tasting notes describe it as a big robust beer, similar to gutsy red wine, with roasted malt and leather, infused with a “delicate coffee aroma that exudes a typical freshly roasted coffee and handmade chocolate flavor.” Alcohol content is 10.11%. Coffee infused beer has been growing in availability for over a year, according to a Google search. If you love beer and coffee, you might like it. One question not yet answered by the search is: does the coffee keep the beer drinker awake even after a few glasses? Since coffee consumed before the onset of a hangover prevents headaches, does this combination prevent hangover headaches too? Now that’s a beer worth considering… and being thankful for.