A new version of Moustache Brewing Company‘s flagship, Everyman’s Porter, features the addition of locally roasted coffee.
NoFoRoCo Coffee Porter is the java-infused beer’s name, to signify Moustache’s pairing with North Fork Roasting Co., which opened in Southold earlier this year. The brewery’s owners, Matt and Lauri Spitz, are using the nascent roaster’s cold-brew coffee — made with an espresso blend dubbed Beetlejuice — to caffeinate their popular porter.
Matt and Lauri tell us more below:
Lauri Spitz: Before our facility was ready last year, we sold our beer at Riverhead’s winter farmers market. That’s where I met Jess [Dunne, one of North Fork Roasting Co.’s partners]. She has a small baking company and was always making cool pastries at the indoor market. We talked about doing a collaboration, but it never happened. She was going to make cupcakes with our Everyman’s Porter.
Matt Spitz: She had mentioned opening a coffee shop and roastery with a friend, which we were really excited about. We’re coffee fiends, but for good coffee and on the North Fork there really weren’t any solid coffee spots. So this made us really happy.
LS: Since they’ve opened, we practically live there — when we’re not at the brewery, of course.
MS: They offer a pour-over option at the shop in addition to drip coffee so you can get a cup of whatever bean you want, not just what’s brewing for the day. They have a sheet with each available coffee and tasting notes on it. It reminded us of being in a brewery’s tasting room.
LS: To us, being a coffee roaster is parallel to being a brewer. They come up with these great recipes, blend the beans themselves, and then roast them in-house on big equipment. It was inevitable that we’d get together at some point, especially since we’re nearby. We initially met with Jess and Jennilee [Morris, North Fork Roasting’s second owner] to taste coffees for a different beer. Stay tuned for that soon.
MS: When we tried their cold brew with the Beetlejuice blend, that immediately struck us as unique. There was some great hazelnut and dark chocolate notes in it. Also a small hint of fruit at the end. As we were tasting, we thought it would go really well in our Everyman’s Porter.
We knew that if we could offer the beer version of cold-brew iced coffee everyone would try it. Even the people that won’t drink dark beer in the summer.
LS: Porter is a hard style to sell in the summer. We hear people all the time saying they don’t want to drink dark beer in the summer because it’s too heavy. This is so not the case with Everyman’s Porter. It’s one of the lightest beers we have, body-wise.
MS: We’ve actually added shots of espresso to a glass of Everyman’s on numerous occasions. It tastes like iced coffee, so it all clicked when we tried their cold brew. People are falling more in love with cold brew by the day and we knew that if we could offer the beer version of cold-brew iced coffee everyone would try it. Even the people that won’t drink dark beer in the summer.
LS: The first time we added the cold-brew concentrate to a finished batch of porter — right in the bright tank after all the fermentation was done — and we didn’t change the method for the second. Adding the coffee to a finished beer allows us to add it incrementally until we achieve a profile we want, in which the coffee doesn’t overpower the initial characteristics of Everyman’s but adds a new spin on them.
MS: The first batch was released last month and that was gone quick; people loved it. We made about 60 gallons of that, so we decided to make double the amount for this one.
LS: This might be the last time we make it for the season, but you never know. You can never have too much coffee.
NoFoRoCo is available exclusively at Moustache Brewing’s tasting room.
