Tugboat Coffee – Big Red Tugboat IPA – A First Sampling

It’s always exciting to get a chance to try new beers, so when this care package arrived from Tugboat Coffee yesterday, I just couldn’t resist sampling.  Tugboat Coffee is a small batch direct trade coffee roaster from Addison, IL and I think you’ll be hearing much more about them in the future.

As you can imagine, I’ve tasted a lot of coffee beers, and if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s not just a matter of throwing in a lot of coffee and making a beer.  The art of roasting coffee is an important ingredient in the mix, and even someone like me who does not regularly drink coffee can tell when a beer uses a well roasted coffee.

Tonight we sampled Tugboat Coffee Big Red Tugboat Coffee-Infused IPA, and I’m happy to report that this beer uses coffee roasted by someone who really knows how to do it well.  When you say Coffee beer, most people think stout or a dark beer, but not so with Big Red Tugboat.  This beer is a Coffee-Infused IPA….yes…an IPA.  The color is lighter than you’d expect and the aroma definitely surprised me.  I was expecting a lot of coffee up front, but it’s a little more subtle than that.  The nose speaks or a roasty coffee and earthy aromas that linger (in a really nice way) and in the end here’s no doubt coffee is on board.

The taste matches well with the nose and we found some light IPA citrus followed by a late dry coffee flavor.  The balance of citrus, hops and coffee plays well together and the beer was a lot hoppier than I expected.

Tugboat Coffee worked with RAM brewery to create this beer and  it will be released for Craft Beer Week in Chicago.  Don’t get fooled into thinking this coffee IPA is a gimmick-style brew…it is in fact a really interesting beer and one I’d definitely recommend you try for yourself.  Erik at Tugboat tells me they are working on a number of other unique and ground-breaking coffee beers so stay tuned for more….and remember the name Tugboat Coffee!
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