pFriem Family Brewers QC Laboratory Manager Max Kravitz Talks pFriem Golden Coffee Pale

We spoke with pFriem Family Brewers QC Laboratory Manager Max Kravitz about pFriem Golden Coffee Pale.

BC: Who came up with this beer’s recipe?
I believe our brewmaster Josh first came up with the concept for this beer after forming a partnership with our friends at Coava Coffee in Portland, OR. Josh had a particular vision for this beer- one that sort of went against coffee’s typical role in beer, which typically finds itself in darker styles like porter or stout.  We wanted to create a lightly golden-colored beer with tropical hops melded with fruity cold brew coffee. After several R+D sessions, we were able to identify together how we were going to pull it off. Coava was instrumental in both deciding upon and perfectly roasting the right coffee for this beer.

BC: What’s your favorite aspect of this beer (flavor, aroma, etc.)?
Year over year of making this beer, I absolutely adore the unique synergy we achieve in the aroma with the combination of very special east African coffees and select hop varieties. At just the right dosage, these components truly merge in an unparalleled way. Derrick Cisneros, our dear friend from Coava and critical contributor to this beer loves the unification of the best parts of an amazing fruity and crisp pale ale with a super complex, fruity and highly acidic coffee.

BC: Can you describe this beer in 10 words or less?
Fragrance of raspberry jam, tropical fruits, lightly toasted finish.

BC: Do you know a story – or have a personal story – that revolves around this beer?
When we first started working with Derrick and the Coava Coffee team to brew the cold brew for this beer, it was a complete all-day event. Never in my life have I worked with or even witnessed such a massive amount of ground coffee before. I think the Coava team spent over 4 consecutive hours grinding all the coffee necessary to make the cold brew. At the brewery, we needed to borrow our head brewer Gavin’s old homebrew mash-tun and Josh’s old homebrew triple burner to heat enough water and have enough vessels to steep the multi batches of cold brew coffee.  Because we’re actively sampling the prized coffee during cold brewday, I like to say its the one day a year I really get to ‘go to the moon’.

BC: What's a good food pairing for this beer?
Rich chocolate ganache cake. Be mindful; buzz beware!

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