Even Bondi isn't immune to the wetter, chillier throws of winter – far from it. Indeed, when The Crafty Pint's Melbourne wing first called in to visit Curly Lewis, it was 10C and the horizontal rain whipping the trees was so dense you could barely make out the ocean from the brewpub's front door.
Presumably such moments, as well as a desire to work with other local producers, informed the creation of this beer with Will & Co: a stout laced with their coffee.
In the glass, it looks a lot like cola, complete with a reddish tinge, its visual lightness suggesting this is a sessionable stout rather than the equivalent of a winter coat. It drinks in that manner too, with chocolate playing as key a role as the collaborator's coffee. There's as much of the mid-arvo chocolate snack as there is of the mid-morning long black, even if a coffee-esque dry roast returns late in the day.
There's a bit of a twist in the tail too (at least there was for me). Having happily swigged my way through a glass as I made notes, I took a look at the can. After all I've written above, it turns out Coffee Stout is a very winter coaty 6 percent ABV, after all. Well I never...
James Smith
Published August 16, 2024 2024-08-16 00:00:00
