Winter’s getting pretty old, isn’t it? Well, springtime is on the way, and we think it’s time to perk up. As strange as it may seem, coffee is intricately entwined with the story of modern stouts. Until the 1700’s, most dark beers were smoky in flavor – the malts were dried over wood fires. It was the development of coffee roasting technology that soon allowed brewers to achieve clean roasted flavors in their malts. It’s not surprising that the fruit and roast notes in fine coffees meld perfectly with roasted malt flavors. For our coffee we went directly to the ultimate source, Duane Sorenson of the famous Stumptown Coffee Roasters. Stumptown originally hails from Portland, Oregon, but they’ve just started roasting in Red Hook, Brooklyn also, and we’re pleased to welcome them to the neighborhood. We’ve brewed the beer with solid British and American malts, and then “intensified” our stout with Duane’s Guatemalan Full City roast beans, giving the beer a wonderfully complex coffee aroma and flavor. This beer pairs beautifully with burgers, venison, duck, desserts, and….ummm…brunch. Yeah, you bet. So if winter’s tired you out, try Brooklyn Intensified Coffee Stout. It’s a stimulus package we can all believe in. Malts: British Pale Ale, Crystal and Chocolate malts, American black malt and black barley Other sugars: Raw demerara, Malawi Hops: Willamette Intensification: Stumptown Guatemalan Full City Roast Coffee Beans O.G.: 18.8° Plato (1076) ABV: 8.0%