From the Beer Writer: Dark beers—your porters and stouts, imperial and lower-octane—are splendid canvasses for dark-roast coffee infusion. The rich roastiness of the beans and the dark-malts play well together and make for a very robust flavor experience. But what if a brewer wants the coffee to merely be an accent rather than the primary flavor of their beer? That’s when it’s time to opt for a low- to medium-roast variety of coffee and inject it into a lighter beer style. A perfect example of this technique is offered via Seize the Coffee IPA from Second Chance Beer Company. Brewmaster Marty Mendiola selected light-roast Ethiopian beans from fellow Carmel Mountain company, Mostra Coffee, so their mild flavor could complement a mix of earthy, citrusy hops rather than match or, worse yet, overpower them. The result is a beer that drinks every bit like an IPA but features a big, tantalizing morning-Joe nose and accents of java from front-palate to finish.
From the Brewer: “Seize the Coffee has its genesis in our flagship Seize the IPA, of course, but the idea came about years ago when my wife, Virginia, and I were traveling in Colorado and came across our first coffee-infused pale ale. It was a bit more coffee than beer for my taste, but it piqued my interest. After we opened, and we dialed in the Seize the IPA recipe, I started experimenting for what was supposed to be a ‘tasting-room-only’, small-batch coffee IPA. For the coffee, like our beer, my standards are high. I wanted to work with a local roaster and we selected Mostra, a close and highly-respected neighbor here in Carmel Mountain. It took some time before we found the right roast and the exact recipe we liked, but it seems we have ‘seized’ on something special. Shortly after it was tapped in our tasting room, the demand for it in distribution was such that we had to figure out how to make it in larger batches, which was another challenge. But we rose to it, and now are looking forward to canning it soon due to popular demand.”—Marty Mendiola, Brewmaster, Second Chance Beer Company