Upslope & New Belgium Team Up On Tropical Stout With Plantains

Here at Upslope, we love collaborating with friends from other breweries. So when we had the chance to brew up something tasty with the brew crew from New Belgium, we invited them up to our experimental Lee Hill brewery & got down to business.

We decided to brew a topical stout: a version of a foreign extra stout that is a bit sweeter without much bitterness. Tropical stouts are exceptionally smooth and often times have rum-like characteristics. Basically, they are delicious. And for this one, the brewers decided to compliment those flavors by adding in plantains.

Slicing up some plantains for the brew!

The brew crews got down and dirty with the plantains, first peeling some and later roasting a whole bunch in the oven with a rum-sugar glaze.

So how did the New Belgium & Upslope teams decide on what to brew?

Rum glazed plantains roasting away.

Upslope Head Brewer Sam Scruby says, “Ross Koenigs (Brewmaster at New Belgium) thought a coffee beer might be a good starting point and we looked at different regional varieties of coffee as a starting point (Turkish Coffee, Irish Coffee, Cuban Coffee). While on a trip in Chicago, Charlie Condon (Upslope’s Head of Barrel Aging and Special Projects) was introduced to Cuban coffee at a local Cuban restaurant and also had the opportunity to pair it with a fried plantain. After his experience, brewing a Cuban stout with plantains was decided on. Ross had the great idea to glaze the plantains with rum for added complexity and a Caribbean touch.”

The brewers doing a little post-brew can crushing.

When it comes to collaborating with other brewers, Sam jokingly offers a few general rules: “Show up late, drink lots of beer, leave early.” But our friends at New Belgium are a work hard, play hard kind of crew. “The New Belgium team only followed rule #2. It was actually one of the best collaboration days I’ve experienced.” And it’s a good thing they all worked so hard, because this brew is set to be a pretty tasty one.

Since our brewers had so much fun making this beer, we decided to prolong the good times and throw a release party for it! Please join us in kicking off Colorado Craft Beer Week at our Flatiron Park tap room on Saturday, March 19th from 12-5pm. Hope to see you there!