Capital Brewing & ONA Roasters First Tracks Imperial Stout

Style
Coffee Imperial Stout
ABV
10.5%

It's a beer with a background story that runs to a few chapters. Then again, First Tracks is a beer that tells quite the story of its own. So let's start at the very beginning...

The OG First Tracks was Capital's first ever seasonal release: a coffee-infused 5.2 percent ABV stout conceived with their coffee roasting mates at ONA. It's returned every winter since and their friendship even led to the formation of a heavy metal band named Peril featuring both brewers and roasters. In recent years, ONA's head roaster Danny Wilson has been devising ways for coffee and alcohol to complement each other, twice winning Australia’s largest coffee cocktail championships, and finishing on the podium at the 2018 World Coffee in Good Spirits Championships.

So... hard music, hard booze, a spirit of collaboration and experimentation. Where's that likely to end up? In this can, it turns out, in the shape of a 10.5 percent ABV imperial stout featuring different coffee blends and extraction techniques and the introduction of oats to soften and round things out.

Which brings us, finally, to the liquid. And I have to say my first impression, as glass passed under proboscis, was none other than: "Ooooh!" It's black AF, like dark matter. Impenetrable. Even the head would qualify as a brown ale if it were in liquid form.

A freshly ground espresso blend hits first, but with a liqueur like vibe – maybe it's more an after dinner coffee with a shot of liqueur in its midst? Indeed, the whole experience conjures thoughts of the post-dinner experience – the fancy chocolates, the move to gradually harder liquor, the slipping into something more comfortable (if that's still possible in these COVID times when you've spent three months in trackie dacks). While possessing a silkiness, it's not as fat as such a big beer could be, with the bitter dryness and a roasty edge seeing to that.

tl;dr: A story worth telling. A beer worth savouring.

James Smith

Published June 17, 2020

Name
Capital Brewing Co
Address

Building 3/1 Dairy Rd
Fyshwick
ACT 2609

Phone
(02) 5104 0915
Open Hours

Monday: 11:30am to 8pm
Tues to Thurs: 11:30am to 9pm
Friday: 11am–10pm
Saturday: 11:30am to 10pm
Sunday: 11:30am to 8pm

Black Bad Boy Bao 2024 B
CBCo Goldy

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