In Seattle, we love our beer. In Seattle, we love our coffee. Compared to many cities in America, some might say our passion for the two beverages is intense. Like craft beer, Seattle hopped aboard the “good coffee” train long before most of the nation had grown accustomed to the concept of a $4 cup of joe.
It is not unusual for a brewery in Seattle or elsewhere to make a beer that features coffee. There are a number of different methods for doing it, but Reuben’s Brews in Seattle is taking a more robust approach to combing the world of coffee with the world of beer. Today, January 27th, the company announced its Reuben’s AM Brews program, which will see the esteemed brewery take its combined love of beer and coffee to a new level.
At the heart of the project is the brewery’s relationship with Seattle’s Kuma Coffee, a direct-trade coffee roaster with whom Reuben’s has partnered for other projects in the past. As a direct-trade roaster, Kuma buys many of its beans directly from the source, creating a more equitable, profitable, sustainable financial circumstance for the growers.
The most Seattle thing that Seattle ever Seattled
The first beer in Reuben’s AM Brews project was released today (Jan. 27th). It is a version of the brewery’s beloved Robust Porter infused with a unique coffee blend that Kuma created for this purpose. In other words, they did not simply use an existing off-the-shelf blend for this beer.
Like I said, a more robust approach. To create Bear Mug –the name of the new beer and the new, unique coffee blend– the experts at Kuma Coffee devised a blend of Kenyan and Honduran beans specifically for this beer.
“We’ve used coffee in a number of beers over the years – from IPAs to barrel-aged stouts,” said today’s announcement from Reuben’s Brews. “But despite always pairing an ‘off-the-shelf’ coffee to the beer, we’ve never used Adam’s knowledge of coffee to create a specific coffee blend for the beer. Until now!”
Apparently Adam Robbings, one of the brewery’s co-owners, is something of a coffee aficionado as well as a beer geek.
The beer is described as rich and roasty with an added layer of fruit sweetness from the Bear Mug coffee blend. Bear Mug the beer is available at the Reuben’s Brews Taproom as of today. A limited amount will see distribution around the PNW.
The Reuben’s AM Brews project is about more than beer and the coffee cannot be forgotten. In fact, the coffee blend used in the beer is available at the Reuben’s Brews taproom. The Bear Mug coffee blend is for sale in 12-ounce bags alongside cans of Bear Mug beer.
Last but not least, the brewery plans to release a cold brew version of Reuben’s AM Brews’ Bear Mug blend. It will be available starting on Monday, Feb. 1st at the Taproom, on nitro and in cans to-go.
For more news about recent beer releases, visit the Washington Beer Blog’s New Beer Releases page.
