Burgundian Coffee Beer Fest 2012

If there's one type of beer I love, it's coffee flavored beer. It's just such a great combination. So I was thrilled to find out that the excellent nearby pub The Burgundian was having a coffee beer fest on a lazy Saturday. Buddies Bobby and Jim joined me for some delicious, specially brewed coffee beers from some top notch local and nationally known breweries.

Fort George Brewing Thundermuck Stout

ABV: 9%

 

Thoughts: I love me some Fort George Brewing, so of course I had to try this first. A very well balanced imperial coffee stout. The booze is very well concealed because of the overall smoothness of the stout. Coffee flavors are in the forefront, no doubt, but it's not overpowering.

Rating: 3.5/5

Gigantic Brewing The City Hasn't Slept In Days Black Saison w/ Cold Press Portland Roasting Coffee

ABV: 7%

 

Thoughts: So this is a variation on Gigantic's regular black saison, The City Never Sleeps, which is a pretty fantastic beer already. So they added some coffee flavors to it and bam, absolute brilliance. The mash up of coffee flavors with the slight Belgian bitterness makes for a challenging and tasty brew.

Rating: 4/5

Oakshire Brewing Goatshed Coffee IPA

Bonus chicken 'n waffles action

ABV: 7.1%

Thoughts:  Oakshire is a solid brewery from Eugene, OR, and this is a coffee-infused variation on their Watershed IPA. This was super unique because it pretty much tasted like hoppy coffee, but you know, in beer form. Fantastic beer.

Rating: 4.5/5

Epic Ales Coffee and Cigarettes

ABV: 6.5%

Thoughts: This was probably my overall favorite beer that I tried. Leave to lil' ol' Epic Ales to make the craziest small batch beer at a fest! This tasted just like the name suggests.  We dubbed this the Tomacco beer, because Simpsons humor is the basis for most good things in life. Along with coffee, there was tobacco smoke, cinnamon and cardamom. It was a bit like a dark sour overall, but like Tomacco, one sip begs another. An amazing concoction.

Rating: 4.75/5

Fremont Brewing Wandering Wheat with Tony's Ethopian Blend

ABV: 4.5%

Thoughts: I've had the regular Wandering Wheat before and it's a very refreshing, summery kind of wheat ale. Add a little coffee in there and it becomes this awesome, complex, slightly bitter and overall delicious lil' session beer. Great stuff.

Rating: 4.5%

Great beers and a fun, low-key lil' fest.