Oskar Blues Brewery, the company that helped make canned packaging cool and desirable, is answering the demands of craft beer fans everywhere by expanding one of its seasonal favorites into a year- round brew.
Hotbox Coffee Porter, a delicious, roasty brew made with seven hop varieties and high quality coffee, will become the next addition to Oskar Blues regular lineup starting in August, 2018. Oskar Blues plans to spotlight Hotbox Coffee Porter with special kickoff events in Austin, Brevard, Longmont, and Boulder on August 4.
What makes Hotbox Coffee Porter so special? The reasons are many but it starts with the malt bill. The beer is made with multiple malt varieties, most unique among them Caraaroma – a nutty red-hued malt that’s drum-roasted from German barley. Oskar Blues Head of Brewing Operations Tim Matthews says the different malts form a highly complex foundation designed to be compatible with the flavor of coffee.
“The malt bill highlights chocolate, fig, plum, espresso, burnt sugar, caramel, and marshmallow,” said Matthews. “It’s designed to perfectly balance the coffee flavors so it’s not too sweet.”
But the malt is only the beginning. With this complex base in place, Oskar Blues then adds coffee from business partner Hotbox Roasters using a special blend of coffee beans from Guatemala and Honduras in Central America along with beans from Columbia, in South America. Using this unique blend of beans, Hotbox Roasters brews up a batch of cold brew that features flavors such as chocolate, tobacco, wood, and earthy notes. The cold brew is then added to the porter, resulting in a mixture that is a coffee and dark beer lover’s dream come true.
Hotbox Roasters head honcho Noe Lopez says the process is part of what makes this cold brew so special.
“We brew two pounds of coffee to one gallon of water and then steep it for 36 hours,” said Lopez. “It adds massive coffee and chocolate flavor to the beer.”
Hotbox Coffee Porter is definitely a delicious brew. We at Great Beer Now love coffee- accented brews and what I love most about Hotbox Coffee Porter is that it’s not too heavy and not too sweet. It’s actually a medium- bodied beer with a modest 6.5 percent alcohol by volume and 30 IBU of bitterness. These qualities make Hotbox Coffee Porter more quaffable than the typical coffee beer and more compatible with most any occasion.
Seasonal beers are often highly anticipated and with Hotbox Coffee Porter, fans of this beer no longer have to wait for the fall season to enjoy the beverage they love. Hotbox Coffee Porter will now be available all year long, a tribute to the beer’s quality and to the demands of craft beer fans who cannot get enough of this delicious brew.
To learn more about this or other Oskar Blues beer, visit online at Oskar Blues, visit http://www.oskarblues.com/. To see if Hotbox Coffee Porter is available in your area, use the Oskar Blues beerfinder.
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