Ken Schmidt / Iron Fist / Stone Imperial Mint Chocolate Stout (Video)

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urely by now you know the name Ken Schmidt. After all, he’s the homebrew mastermind behind not just one of our handsome collaboration beers, but two of em! You undoubtedly recall the glory that was the Ken Schmidt / Maui / Stone Kona Coffee, Macadamia, Coconut Porter, yes? When Ken took first place at our 2009 March Madness Homebrew Competition & AHA Rally with what he’d named “Aloha Plenty,” we knew we’d made a new friend.

Fast forward to 2012, and Ken came back with yet another winning combination that he called “Pillow Mint at the Ritz.” After taking the champion title for the second time, he worked with our illustrious brewmaster Mitch Steele to select Brandon Sieminski of nearby Iron Fist Brewing as our third partner in crime to help scale this awesome recipe up for our big 120bbl system. The result? A decadently rich, decidedly bold, and oh-so-delicious libation we call Ken Schmidt / Iron Fist / Stone Mint Chocolate Imperial Stout.

Of course, we had one helluva beer to recreate, so we naturally sought out the highest quality ingredients. Barley, hops, water, and yeast… no problem. But on the chocolate side, we went on the hunt for killer cacao and we found it thanks to SoCal chocolatier ChocoVivo. Owner Patricia Tsai stone-grinds the beans that she sources from a single organic farmer in Tabasco, MX. The beans are fermented for a very short period of time, resulting in less acidity that allows a truly wonderful roasty-toasty flavor to shine through. On the mint side, we used a blend of vibrant peppermint and chocolate mint organically grown on our very own Stone Farms, located just nine miles away from our brewery.

Delicious as it was turning out, we found that it was still lacking some of the minty cool freshness that was present in Ken’s beer. Admittedly, Ken’s delectable homebrew had been created with a chocolate mint extract, and we found that even though we tried to replicate that flavor with the cacao and fresh mint, the punch of cool mint just wasn’t coming through enough. So sayeth Brewmaster Mitch: “The problem with fresh mint is that it doesn’t come across like a mint extract, which is far more intense, and more familiar tasting. And even though it’s not our normal practice, we decided that replicating Ken’s beer was the priority, so we searched long and hard for the right 100% natural flavor to get as close to his homebrew as possible.” (Hence the “Ale brewed with cocoa and mint with natural flavors added” line on the bottle. Word.)

Look at these mighty brewstuds: Mitch Steele, Brandon Sieminski, and Ken Schmidt

All told, we couldn’t be happier with how this experiment in goodness turned out. Ken Schmidt has once again proven himself as master of the homebrewing arts, and we’re so glad we got a chance to work with him and Brandon. Grab a pint or a bottle while it’s still around, since it won’t be here forever. Like all of our collaboration beers, it is a one-time brew. We think you’ll love it as much as we do, but if for any reason you think you can do better, we’ll expect your homebrew to be entered in next year’s competition! Cheers!