If the chilly temperatures greeting many Australians in the early days of winter 2022 get any chillier, anyone wanting to don skis or snowboard this season might not have to bother heading to the mountains – your local park may well work. At least the plummeting mercury is being accompanied by suitably hearty beers, including this one from Wolf of the Willows: their follow up to last year's Steep & Deep IIPA continues to take the piste but this time in the shape of a coffee-laced breakfast stout.
First Chair sees the Mordialloc brewers working alongside Commonfolk Coffee Roasters – contributing their Los Campeones Colombia blend, said to possess lime, date and ruby grapefruit characteristics – and regular label designer Marcos at Digable Goods for cans inspired by Burton's retro 80s gear.
And, boy, doesn't the coffee come with a breadth and depth: putting the glass to your nose is like cracking open a bag of freshly roasted beans for the first time – and the experience doesn’t let up once you move in for the kill. You may have had coffee stouts in which the coffee is an adornment – this is a coffee stout that treats the roast and bitter dark chocolate flavours from the malts and cocoa as supporting players before finishing nice and dry.
To be honest, first chair of the morning is probably the best time to enjoy one, blowing away the cobwebs from the night before; crack one in the evening and I'm not sure you’ll be sleeping in a hurry...
James Smith
Published June 3, 2022 2022-06-03 00:00:00
