2017 Advent - December 22: The Other Half RIS w/ Barrel-aged Coffee
- mumblecrunch
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2017 Advent - December 22: The Other Half RIS w/ Barrel-aged Coffee
So the way this was supposed to work was Liverdance and I brewed 10 gallons of this RIS together in mid-October (read: I mostly stayed the hell out of the way so I wouldn't get hurt) and we were going to each take half and treat it with a different barrel-aged coffee before bottling. One was the Burundi aged in a calvados foedre at 2 Crows and the other was an Ethiopian barrel-aged and roasted in northern Nova Scotia. For reasons I will not delve into here (but buy LD a pint some night at Stilly and he might tell you), kegging went sideways and only half the batch survived. Why he decided to let me carry forward with the exchange I dunno, but thanks and cheers to him for that
The recipe is effectively the RIS recipe from BCS but modified for the ingredients we had at hand. I don't think there's any Special B in it, I believe it's regular Munich not CaraMunich and I think there's a touch of Crystal 60 or possibly even 120. Yeast was US-05, somewhere around 35 - 40g. OG came in a little lower than expected at 1.090, but it also finished a little lower than expected at 1.020, so the ABV should be in the 9% range. The coffee was the Ethiopian and a much darker roast than the Low Point stuff. It came to me already cold-brewed; I'd estimate there was around 5 - 600 mL, maybe a little more. It was added to the keg, the keg was put in the refrigerator for a week or so, and then it was force carbed at 30 psi for 48 hours before bottling with a beer gun.
Having had a different RIS with the Low Point coffee earlier in the year, I'm pretty confident in saying this beer has a much bigger coffee character, probably owing to it being a significantly darker roast and it's boozier too, as the barrel was rum or whisky rather than calvados.
The recipe is effectively the RIS recipe from BCS but modified for the ingredients we had at hand. I don't think there's any Special B in it, I believe it's regular Munich not CaraMunich and I think there's a touch of Crystal 60 or possibly even 120. Yeast was US-05, somewhere around 35 - 40g. OG came in a little lower than expected at 1.090, but it also finished a little lower than expected at 1.020, so the ABV should be in the 9% range. The coffee was the Ethiopian and a much darker roast than the Low Point stuff. It came to me already cold-brewed; I'd estimate there was around 5 - 600 mL, maybe a little more. It was added to the keg, the keg was put in the refrigerator for a week or so, and then it was force carbed at 30 psi for 48 hours before bottling with a beer gun.
Having had a different RIS with the Low Point coffee earlier in the year, I'm pretty confident in saying this beer has a much bigger coffee character, probably owing to it being a significantly darker roast and it's boozier too, as the barrel was rum or whisky rather than calvados.
- John G
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Re: 2017 Advent - December 22: The Other Half RIS w/ Barrel-aged Coffee
Really liked this beer. It was cleanly brewed, not too hot alcohol despite the high gravity. It was sweet, but not cloying - well balanced with the alcohol. It has some great roast and toffee aromas. Flavour was rich, chocolatey and fruity. Reminded me of fruit cake soaked in rum. There is a market for this beer. I'd buy it. I'd like to see what some age would do to it - I'm sure it would evolve nicely.
- John G
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Re: 2017 Advent - December 22: The Other Half RIS w/ Barrel-aged Coffee
I let a glass of this warm up to room temperature and it started to express some more complex spicy and coffee notes. I enjoyed it most when it was warmer, so if anyone has yet to try it I recommend letting some of it warm up a bit to get more from it. Great beer, thanks for sharing.
- CartoonCod
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Re: 2017 Advent - December 22: The Other Half RIS w/ Barrel-aged Coffee
Nice black beer with a tan coloured head. Very tasty, can taste the coffee in here with what I am assuming is the barrel aged character, complex and fruity but hard to describe. I get a bit of booziness but in a good way that you would expect for this kind of beer. I also think it would be interesting to taste this beer after some aging but thats not to say its not great now! I'm really digging this one. Thanks!
- RubberToe
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Re: 2017 Advent - December 22: The Other Half RIS w/ Barrel-aged Coffee
I really enjoyed this, thanks.
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On tap at RubberToe's:
Sometimes on a Sunday Belgian Dubbel, Oaked Old Ale, Ordinary Bitter
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Sometimes on a Sunday Belgian Dubbel, Oaked Old Ale, Ordinary Bitter
- SFR709
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Re: 2017 Advent - December 22: The Other Half RIS w/ Barrel-aged Coffee
I really enjoyed this one, I shared it with the father-in-law in a couple glasses I picked up at Four Rivers Brewing in Bathurst they open mid-Jan. Solid beer and a cool idea!
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Re: 2017 Advent - December 22: The Other Half RIS w/ Barrel-aged Coffee
I also enjoyed this. Something about the cold weather that makes these nice to sip on.
- Halifax_Jeff
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Re: 2017 Advent - December 22: The Other Half RIS w/ Barrel-aged Coffee
really enjoyed this one. thanks
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- Buccaneer
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Re: 2017 Advent - December 22: The Other Half RIS w/ Barrel-aged Coffee
Finally got around to this one. Fantastic. The only negative was a bit of acetone I picked up on the very last sip. I thought the level of coffee was perfect.
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- oceanic_brew
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Re: 2017 Advent - December 22: The Other Half RIS w/ Barrel-aged Coffee
I had this last night with the ms. Delicious beer! Enjoyed every sip and had no complaints thanks!
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Re: 2017 Advent - December 22: The Other Half RIS w/ Barrel-aged Coffee
Would love to try it.
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