Lagunitas Brewing Releases 2015 Imperial High West-ified Coffe Stout

Lagunitas Brewing produces some fine brews. I had the pleasure of visiting the huge Lagunitas brew campus on a trip to northern California last June. I also had the pleasure of hanging out with the Lagunitas folks last August at the Beer Bloggers Conference in San Diego.....Let me just say Lagunitas knows how to throw a party....and the version we attended was a tame one from what they told me. We really enjoy pretty much everything Lagunitas does.

The other day freshpints.com received a UPS shipping email from Lagunitas Brewing. The next day the beer mail arrived. Thanks, Lagunitas, for hooking up freshpints.com with a (full size) sample of the limited release of 2015 High West-ified Coffee Stout!  This beer is brewed with Petaluma Coffee & Tea Company coffee beans and aged in High West Distilling Barrels.

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Lagunitas barrel-aged beers usually don't make it to retail shelves. They are super-limited draft beers, that are usually only available at the Lagunitas Brewery or special draft accounts. That is, until now.

The 2015 High West-ified Coffee Stout is Lagunitas Brewing's first bottled barrel-aged beer,  with only 4500 cases being sent out this year. High West-ified will also be on draft, so look for it at a few lucky craft beer establishments.

Specs from the information they sent me on the Barrels and Coffee used in the 2015 High Wes-ified Coffee Stout.

ABOUT THE BARRELS
The spent barrels we chose held whiskey that went into High West’s Double Rye and American Prairie Bourbon.  As you know, when blending barrel-aged brews there’s a lotta different ways to do ‘em; look at the history of Belgian beer.  Sometimes it needs to be cut with un-aged beer to round out flavors.  Or to simply make it go a little further.  Not the case here.  Our High West-ified is 100% barrel aged.  No shortcuts.  Some aged 10 months, some only a couple.  All blended for just the right amount of oak and age flavor.  Yum.
ABOUT THE BEANS
We custom-picked a coffee blend with a local roaster, Petaluma Coffee & Tea Company, to compliment the flavors in this imperial stout.  It has a base of Mexican coffee that’s blended with Sumatra, Guatemala and Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Natural (which has heavy dark fruit notes).  All finished with an Italian roast to bring out the oils and a nice, dark flavor.  Yum, yum.

Lagunitas says High West-ified should be on lucky shelves soon-ish....and don't forget to check your local craft beer establishment - they may get lucky as well and get a keg so you too can enjoy a freshpint.

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Petaluma Coffee and Tea Company