With the seemingly endless supply of new coffee
stouts coming to market, somebody, somewhere had to be innovating in the
opposite direction. The hunt was on for coffee complimented by beer, not the
other way around. At Elk Mountain Hops Farm in Northern Idaho, a lead brewer
for Goose Island Beer company confirmed that two espresso beer drinks have
already been created in a partnership with Intelligentsia Coffee: the Bourbon
County Macchiato and the Bourbon County Black Eye.
The Speciality Coffee Association of America (SCAA)
reported a 51 percent market share for specialty cups of coffee in 2014,
passing non-specialty cups for the first time ever. SCAA's data points to the
growing segment of craft and speciality coffee in the midst of another beverage
category experiencing ridiculous growth: craft beer. In the same year, the
Brewers Association reported that the craft beer industry had practically
doubled in total market share in just three years from 5.7% in 2011 to 11%
2014, totaling nearly 22 million barrels, or 44 million kegs bro.
So it should be no surprise when a former craft
behemoth turned Anheuser-Busch golden ticket, Goose Island Beer Company looked
to partner with Intelligentsia Coffee to shake things up. The company
partnership actually extends back 13 years, most famously recognized for its
Bourbon County Coffee Stout. But here I was, at Elk Mountain Hops Farm in
Idaho, practically pleading Goose Island's Brewing Innovation Manager, Mike
Siegel, for any hints toward a beer-influenced coffee.
White Rushing Intelligentsia
Siegel confirmed a coffee radler had been created by
Jay Cunningham and Jesse Raub of Intelligentsia that included 3 0z of
cold-brewed concentrate of the Kurimi Ethiopia Single Origin and 19 oz of the
Goose's 312 wheat ale.
"I don't think anyone is making espresso and
beer drinks with great espresso equipment, carefully filtered water and really
well trained baristas," said Cunningham. "Add to the fact that we had
a keg of Bourbon County [Stout] to use too, it just doesn't happen very
often."
We were getting closer. That was the first instance
I'd ever heard of combining coffee and beer, versus coffee being part of the
brewing process. But then Cunningham confirmed that multiple beer espresso
drinks had been created in tandem with the radler. The White Rushing aka
Bourbon County Macchiato (pictured above) included 2 oz of Bourbon County
Stout, 1 oz of Black Cat Espresso and 1 oz of steamed milk. And finally the
Black Eye aka Bourbon County Black Eye included 3 oz of Bourbon County Stout
and 1 oz of fresh Black Cat espresso.
So they do exist. But to my knowledge, the drinks
only exists during special events between Goose Island and Intelligentsia.
There's also an event series called Uppers & Downers by Good Beer Hunting,
an event built on the combination of beer and coffee. This has so much promise.
More and more the drink two categories are
collapsing into each other. Millions of corporate hours and dollars have likely
been poured into the research and strategy towards Starbuck's beer and wine
program now at 70 stores nationwide. You bet there's going to be a craft
response. With the abundance of new craft breweries and artisanal coffeehouses,
the opportunity for a marketing collaboration without leeching consumers from
each other is to large for them pass up.