Brü It Yourself | Juxtaposed Coffee Black IPA

Author: Steve Thanos

My love for beer runs parallel with my love for coffee– a hot cup of Joe first thing in the morning is a ritual I do not envision changing anytime soon, and the creation of the recipe I now call Juxtaposed Coffee Black IPA was born out of my combined passion for my two favorite beverages.

While sipping a single-origin coffee from Ethiopia a couple years ago, I was completely floored by how much the aroma and flavor resembled certain hop characteristics. In addition to having a rich body with a bright and vibrant aftertaste, this particular coffee exhibited a complex citrusy fruitiness marked by notes of lemon and grapefruit. It was absolutely delicious and inspired me to come up with a beer recipe that featured this tasty coffee.

Often derided by brewers and craft beer connoisseurs, I settled on the sub-style of Black IPA, as I felt the blend of hop character with hints of roast  would be the perfect catalyst to pair with this notably fruity coffee. Unfortunately, I was no longer able to obtain this Ethiopian coffee, as it was discontinued before I could get my hands on some to brew with, so I picked up some raw Congo Kivu Kalehe and sought the services of a fellow homebrewer who recently began roasting his own coffee beans. After a conversation during a club meeting, we settled on the type of roast he would employ to coax the desired citrus flavors out of the beans.

| Making Juxtaposed Coffee Black IPA |

I use a fairly heavy dose of Citra hops in this recipe because I find it possesses just the right citrus characteristic to pair with the fruitiness imparted by the coffee.

Juxtaposed Coffee Black IPA

I started my brew day off by collecting the water and adjusting it to my desired profile before moving to weighing out and milling the grain.

With the water properly heated, I incorporated the grains then checked to make sure it was at my target mash temperature.

The mash was left to recirculate for 60 minutes, during which I occasionally stirred it.

During the mash rest, I prepared the kettle hop additions.

When the mash was completed, I removed the grains and proceeded to boil the wort for 60 minutes, adding the hops at the times stated in the recipe. Once the boil was finished, I quickly chilled the wort and took a hydrometer measurement confirming it hit my target OG.

After racking the wort to a sanitized fermenter, I placed it in my 68˚F/20˚C chamber and pitched a pouch of Imperial Yeast A15 Independence directly into it.

A couple days into fermentation, I added the dry hops then returned 4 days later to take an initial hydrometer measurement showing FG was reached.

At this point, I prepared the coffee by first weighing out 8 oz/227 g of the fresh roasted beans.

Next, I coarsely crushed the beans with a rolling pin then combined them with 51 fl. oz./1500 mL of filtered cold water in a pitcher.

The covered pitcher was placed in my fridge and left alone overnight. The following day, about 24 hours after preparing the cold brew coffee, I strained the grounds from the liquid and gently added it to a sanitized and purged keg.

Next, I racked the beer into the keg to combine with the coffee. The filled keg was placed in my keezer and burst carbonated overnight before I reduced the gas to serving pressure. After a week of conditioning, the beer was carbonated and ready to drink!

| IMPRESSIONS |

People hold some pretty strong opinions about Black IPA, with many claiming the blend of roasted character and fruity hops clash. While some commercial examples received a decent amount of fanfare, it’s safe to say the days of Black IPA have come and gone, as evidenced by the fact it’s rarely spoken of these days. Perhaps I’m just hanging on to the past, but I genuinely love a good Black IPA, almost as much as I love coffee, which inspired me to put the two together.

To my palate, Juxtaposition Coffee Black IPA was quite delicious, achieving all the goals I intended when developing the recipe years ago. The Ye Olde Pale Ale from Sugar Creek Malt provided a sweet malt flavor with toasted bread and biscuit notes that nicely upheld the roasted character from the dark malts. The fruitiness from the coffee beautifully complimented the Citra hop profile while also contributing a pleasantly generic coffee flavor.

Overall, I feel this beer provides the best of both worlds, nicely juxtaposing fruity and roasty coffee notes with the same-but-different characteristics in a classic Black IPA, hence the name. As much as I enjoy Black IPA on its own, I feel the addition of coffee in my Juxtaposition recipe results in a beer with a touch more balance that I feel makes it more approachable. I absolutely love this beer and will definitely be brewing it in the future.

If you have thoughts about this recipe or experience making something similar, please feel free to share in the comments section below!

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