Seed to Cup to Can: New Orleans Coffee Shop Doesn’t Have a Trash Bin?

by Emily Jean McCollister

HEY Coffee Co. is a New Orleans roastery and coffee shop producing high quality coffee with an emphasis on traceability from seed to cup to trash can. With two locations, one on Magazine St. and one on the Lafitte Greenway, the folks at Hey Coffee Co. are not your average micro-roaster. They are also a living example of a business that has an extremely low landfill dependency.

Photo: Emily Jean McCollister

The discussion of “seed-to-cup” is a familiar one in the specialty coffee scene. Simply put, seed to cup is the consideration of coffee from a seed planted in a nursery, through growth, harvesting, processing, sorting, bagging, exporting and finally, roasting and brewing. Thinking intentionally about all the hands involved in those steps, and caring about their quality of life, a specialty coffee shop wants to present a cup to their customer that’s more than just coffee: it’s a story. Although many shops think critically about where their coffee and materials come from, very rarely do they think about where things go when we’re done with them.

Easily the most eco-conscious coffee shop in South Louisiana, HEY Coffee Co. strives to be more and more sustainable with every day that passes. In 2018, they were recognized by Rubicon Global as Best in Louisiana, they then advanced as national finalists alongside 14 other environmentally conscious businesses in the United States for Best Business in America. 

Photo: Emily Jean McCollister

Tommy LeBlanc, one of the shop’s owners, started zeroing in on their composting program when he had difficulty with a city garbage contract in 2009. They began composting in partnership with Schmelly’s Dirt Farms. Today, nine years later, they have no trash can in either of their stores, at all.

Composting all food and coffee grinds is a radically positive environmental practice. Even if that were all a coffee shop did, it would have a dramatic impact. Food waste is one of the largest drivers of greenhouse gas emissions, when food is disposed in a landfill it rots and becomes a significant source of methane - a potent greenhouse gas with 21 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide.

Embodying creativity, HEY Coffee Co. not only recycles and composts but also trades with local stores and secures homes for items like burlap and pallets, sending very little to the landfill.

Although LeBlanc has always been a nature lover who enjoyed camping and the great outdoors, he was once a standard American consumer. He certainly did not set out to operate an eco-friendly coffee shop when he opened Hey! Cafe. In 2009, he realized how incredibly dependent businesses were on waste pickup, and how much they were sending to the landfill. “We didn’t think about lowering our landfill dependency until the garbage company stopped picking up my trash, even though I was paying my bill,” LeBlanc remarked.

Through trying to get out of his contract with the waste disposal company he was using, he started research other waste disposal companies. “I realized that disposal companies are crooked. In addition to them being crooked toward me, they buy land near communities and essentially poison the areas nearby,” LeBlanc asserted, “In my research, I learned about all these lawsuits against waste companies and I wanted to challenge our need for them.”

Photo: Emily Jean McCollister

Traditional to-go cups at coffee shops are not recyclable at all. Disposable coffee cups are lined with plastic polyethylene, which makes the cups waterproof and able to hold liquid. Offering an in-house option of reusable cups, plates and utensils, HEY Coffee Co. is able to cut down on the waste. If you need your coffee or food to-go, you’ll receive a compostable option.

In more recent years, the team at HEY Coffee Co. has set up their own sparkling water to run through a tap line, totally knocking out the need for bottles and the waste that accompanies that, especially because New Orleans does not recycle glass.

They receive their whole milk from Progress Milk Barn in glass containers that are picked up on delivery and reused. They provide non-dairy milk options, some of which they make themselves. 

Photo: Emily Jean McCollister

The shop offers noodle straws, and a small stash of plastic ones, should you require one. They sell their roasted coffee in brown paper bags, they sell merchandise like coffee mugs and shirts, and they sell coffee equipment and even a few reusable containers.

The baristas sort waste in buckets behind the bar as they go. Removing the ability for a customer to accidentally sort incorrectly, and removing the weight of responsibility from their customers, they simply instruct you to place all your items in the bus bin. HEY Coffee employees sort out all waste at dish pit: compost, recycling, reusables, and landfill trash. 

Photo: Emily Jean McCollister

Today, HEY Coffee Co. does it all. Their mission statement from their website reads as follows
“presenting the utmost in community, hospitality and quality while advocating for equity and environmental justice at all levels of the coffee industry through radical conservation and supporting sustainable, traceable and ethical farming practices.”

Treating every customer as a friend, LeBlanc is kind, quick to laugh, and easy to talk to. Incredibly gracious and unassuming, you would maybe never know the great strides they take to make HEY Coffee a shop with low landfill dependency. Considering every step from seed, to cup, to waste bin -- HEY Coffee Co. is a neighborhood eco-friendly hot spot in New Orleans.

Wakey Whiskey: Glenfiddich 14-Year Single Malt Scotch Whisky

By Eric Ducote

Good morning everyone, and welcome to a special International Whisk(e)y Day edition of #WakeyWhiskey!  International Whisk(e)y Day is celebrated every year on March 27th, which happens to be the birthday of Michael Jackson.  No, not that Michael Jackson, but the famous whiskey writer and beer hunter.  The day is celebrated in his honor in support of Parkinson's disease, so if you are feeling generous, maybe offer up a donation with your toast?  

To celebrate this year I figured I'd go international so I broke out a sample of Glenfiddich 14, which a little research tells me is a bourbon barrel reserve, aged 14 years in used bourbon barrels and then finished off in new charred American oak barrels.  It's not unusual at all for scotch to be aged in used bourbon barrels, but the finishing barrel is less common.  

The 14-year expression is bottled at 86 proof and available in 750ml bottles for usually around $50 if you can find it.  The scotch pours a deep golden hue, certainly not as dark as a bourbon that would have been aged 14 years, but darker than a typical Speyside scotch.  

Glenfiddich 14-Year Single Malt Scotch Whisky

The nose has a lot of honey, vanilla, and molasses, but not overly sweet.  The taste is smooth, with the oak coming through stronger then on the nose and a good char on the finish.  This scotch goes down easy, extremely pleasing, and I think a bourbon drinker looking to get into scotch would really enjoy this offering.  

Cheers! And happy International Whisk(e)y Day! 

Wakey Whiskey: St. Augustine Single Barrel Select Florida Bourbon

By Eric Ducote

Good morning everyone and welcome to 2019!  As if the dawn of a new year wouldn't be enough reason for a wakey whiskey, it's also LSU Gameday!  There are a few firsts going on in the game... it will be LSU's first ever Fiesta Bowl appearance, as well as the first ever meeting between LSU and UCF.  Going into this season, I'd have been thrilled with a Fiesta Bowl appearance, so this is the most excited I've been about a bowl game in several seasons.  

Back at Thanksgiving I was in Florida, obviously before anyone knew that it was going to be an LSU/UCF matchup, but I picked up a bottle of St. Augustine Distillery's Single Barrel Select Florida Straight Bourbon Whiskey from the Total Wine & More in Sarasota, Florida.  This is a 96 proof straight bourbon (aged at least two years) blended and bottled exclusively for Total Wine & More.  According to the employees I talked to, St. Augustine Distillery is the only distillery in the state that distills, ages, and bottles their own bourbon.  I saw a few other sourced options from the state, but ultimately settled on this barrel pick.  

St. Augustine Single Barrel Select Bourbon

Although this bourbon doesn't have a distinct age labeling, it must be at least 2 years old to be labeled as straight, and the darker color makes me think that it's mostly older.  It could also be aged in smaller oak barrels which increases the surface area to volume ratio which accelerates the maturation process.  The result is a darker deep caramel colored bourbon that has an incredible oakey aroma with hints of vanilla and molasses.  The flavor is well developed, with strong oak flavors, a pleasant backing of sweetness, and a clean finish.  This drinks like an older mature bourbon, which is a fantastic compliment.  I had never heard of St. Augustine Distillery before, but if you find yourself in Florida and see some, don't hesitate to make a purchase.

Cheers, and GEAUX TIGERS! 

Feature Beer Friday: Melvin's 2X4 Double IPA

By Eric Ducote

Hello everyone, and welcome to another Feature Beer Friday!  This might be my last one for a few weeks due to upcoming knee surgery, but it certainly won't be my last post ever.  This week's feature is the 2X4 DIPA from Melvin Brewing out of Alpine, Wyoming.  I found a selection of their beers last weekend in Florida at a Total Wine store.  Apparently Total Wine in Florida contracted with Melvin a large enough order to make a one-time distribution to the state.  A pretty good idea if you ask me, if the demand is there for a certain brewery and that brewery can meet the supply, why not make a special order?  

Melvin Brewing started off as a nanobrewery in the back of a Thai restaurant and has grown into a powerhouse in the NW part of our country.  The 2X4 DIPA, which won a gold medal at the Great American Beer Festival in 2012 to really put Melvin Brewing on the map nationally.  It's a 10% ABV, 100+ IBU beer loaded with American hops such as Columbus, Centennial, Citra, and Simcoe.

Melvin Brewing's 2X4 DIPA

The first thing I notice is the slight haze to the pour.  This is certainly not brewed in the NEIPA style, but it's not filtered clear either.  It's a little on the copper/orange side for color, with as you can see a prominent frothy head.  The aroma is pure hop joy, with pine notes coming through strong as well as citrus.  It's an excellent blend of hops, with multiple layers of flavor shining through, and that extends to the taste as well.  The malts are there, but they lay low and allow the hops to shine through, with even more pine and citrus flavors bursting through every sip.  This is a phenomenal DIPA, and I feel like it really serves as a bridge between the old school malty IBU heavy double IPAs and the trendy hazy NEIPAs.  This beer really allows the hops to shine through without making them the only performer in the show.

I know this one won't be easy to find around Baton Rouge, but if you do see some or get the chance to try it, don't pass it up.  Cheers! 

Wakey Whiskey: Old Forester Kentucky Straight Bourbon

By Eric Ducote

Good morning everyone and a happy last (regular season) LSU football gameday to you all!  Not too long ago I saw a post on social media about the old fashioned cocktails at Mouton at White Star Market being fantastic and being made with Old Forester, so when I saw some Old Forester on the shelf when out running errands last weekend I decided it was a good time to grab some and give it a try. 

Old Forester has been around since 1870 and makes the claim to be the first ever bottled bourbon.  It's distilled in Louisville, Kentucky and is owned by Brown-Forman, one of the largest American companies in the alcoholic beverage industry.  Among their brands are Jack Daniels, Woodford Reserve, Coopers' Craft, Korbel, and many more throughout the industry.  The company started in Louisville with the Old Forester label and obviously has grown significantly since then. 

Old Forester Classic 86 Proof Bourbon

This particular whiskey is the Old Forester Classic 86 Proof Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey.  It's the base expression of Old Forester bourbon, and as usual I gave it a first try neat.  The aroma is pretty strong, a burn stronger than expected for 86 proof with notes of oak, vanilla, and a floral character.  The taste is sharp as well, with a noticeable alcohol burn and a good bit of sweet corn flavor to go with the oak.  Honestly, I'm not a fan of this one as a neat sipper.  

After a glass of Old Forester neat, I checked on what I had on hand to make a cocktail and gave it a bastardized attempt at an old fashioned, with some cherries and simple syrup.  As a cocktail bourbon, this definitely comes closer to hitting the mark, the strong flavors come through but blend well with the rest of the cocktail to give a distinct bourbon flavor without being lost in the mix.

With that, the regular season editions of #wakeywhiskey is over, so let's all hope for an LSU win tonight, and look forward to some holiday and bowl game wakey whiskeys in the near future!  

Feature Beer Friday: Gnarly Barley's Lion Up Wheat Ale

By Eric Ducote

Happy Black Friday to you all!  I sure hope everyone reading this is enjoying some quality time with friends and family and not fighting the crowds for the deals.  Or if you are out there shopping, maybe hit up some local small businesses.  Regardless, you're not going to find me joining in on the shopping madness!  For this week's offering I dug into the beer fridge to find something that was worthy of FBF praise, and found a can of Lion Up from Gnarly Barley Brewing.  

Gnarly Barley is no stranger to this space, and for good reason.  They put out some of the best beers in the state and the taproom is always a great spot to visit.  Co-owners Zac and Cari Caramonta are usually there hanging out and similarly to how LSU and Tin Roof put out the licensed Bayou Bengal, Gnarly Barley partnered with Southeastern Louisiana University to put out the licensed Lion Up.  It makes perfect sense with Gnarly Barley being located in Hammond and both Caramontas being alumni.  Lion Up is brewed with football season in mind, and although it's been cooler and dreary lately, most of football season in south Louisiana is on the warmer side, so this American Wheat Ale is brewed with late Summer and Fall in mind. 

Gnarly Barley's Lion Up Wheat Ale

The beer pours a deep yellow color, some haze from the heavy wheat bill, and a bubbly champagne-esque white head.  The aroma is very floral with some sweet notes from the malt underlying the Cascade and Amarillo hops.  The taste is clean and refreshing, with the hops holding up well to the wheat and barley base, giving the beer an excellent blend of sweet and bitter and packing plenty of flavor into the 4.5% abv.  The result is exactly what they describe it as, "an easy drinking beer, great for football season!" I could definitely see plenty of these making it into my cooler next year, unless the Tigers are playing the Lions again.

Cheers everyone, and I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!  

Wakey Whiskey: Blade And Bow Kentucky Straight Bourbon

By Eric Ducote

Good morning everyone, it's already the last home game of LSU's season, which has seemed to fly by.  I know this space is primarily for whiskey talk, but I've been really surprised by the success this season.  Obviously losing to Florida and Alabama hurts, but assuming nothing insane happens this weekend LSU football will be a 9 win team with a shot at 10-2 and a new year's day bowl game.  That's far better than I expected going into this season. 

Enough football talk though, how about the whiskey?  Today's selection is the Blade And Bow Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey produced by the legendary Stitzel-Weller distillery.  It's created using a unique "solera" aging process where older whiskey is bottled without draining each barrel, and then the barrels are topped off with the next oldest, which are then topped off with the next oldest, etc., until freshly distilled whiskey is put into oak barrels at the top of the pyramid.  Blade And Bow is released as both a "straight" bourbon and as a 22-year old vintage.  The Bite and Booze crew was sent a sample of the straight bourbon, so... time to give it a try.  

Blade And Bow Straight Kentucky Bourbon

The whiskey pours an amber to brown color, "straight" means it has been aged for at least two years but the solera process means that a lot of the whiskey in the sample could be years older, apparently the oldest barrels in the solera go back to 1992!  The aroma is ripe with oak and vanilla, a hint of plum sweetness, and a bit of spice that makes me think about rye although I'm pretty confident this is a more heavily wheated bourbon.  The burn is minimal, and the aroma is overall very pleasant and inviting.  The taste is an excellent follow through on the pleasant aroma, with notes of fruit, oak, vanilla, honey, and some cinnamon spice as well.  The finish is smooth, and makes this Blade And Bow an excellent neat sip.  

I'd never heard of this brand before, but after giving it a try and learning more about their story, I'd be confident picking up a bottle if I see one out in stores.  And if I ever saw the 22-year, it would be headed straight into my cart.  Cheers!  

Feature Beer Friday: Tin Roof Veterans Voodoo Pale Ale

By Eric Ducote

Hello everyone, welcome to another edition of Feature Beer Friday here at Bite And Booze.  This past Sunday was Veterans Day with the observed holiday falling on this past Monday, so a quick thank you to everyone out there who has served or is serving our country!  In honor of Veterans Day, Tin Roof Brewing (a FBF regular) released a special Veterans Voodoo.  The Veterans Voodoo is the same water/malt/yeast as the regular gold-medal winning Voodoo, but it's hopped with a special Veterans blend of hops from Yakima Chief hops.  

Yakima Chief is donating $3 per pound of the hop blend sold in 2018 to the Semper Fi fund, so Tin Roof buying enough for a full batch of Veterans Voodoo certainly put a good chunk of money into the fund.  The hop blend was selected by veteran-owned breweries and in 2018 features Cashmere, Centennial, Ekuanot, Mosaic, and Simcoe.  Centennial, Mosaic, and Simcoe are all very popular hops in the brewing world, but I'm not as familiar with the Cashmere and Ekuanot.  Cashmere is noted for flavors of melon, lemon, and lime, with a moderate bitterness, and Ekuanot is expected to give off flavors of melon, lemon, apple, papaya, and even green pepper.  

Tin Roof's Veterans Voodoo

I swung by to try this one, and of course brought a crowler home for further research.  The color is the same hazy golden color as regular voodoo, with a frothy white head.  The aroma on this special version is fantastic, with tropical fruit, pine, and citrus all working together extremely well to create an inviting bouquet of hops.  The flavor is delicious as well, with the hops really working well together and the standard malt profile that lets the hops dominate.  The smooth mouthfeel and finish is unchanged, only the hop profile, and I think this hop blend creates a pale ale that's on par with the original.  

A full batch was brewed, and is available on tap and in crowlers in the Tin Roof taproom for a limited time.  There will certainly be plenty left when this drops on Friday morning, but it won't be there forever, so go give it a try.  Cheers! 

Wakey Whiskey: Angel's Envy Port Finish

By Eric Ducote

Good morning everyone, it's time for another wakey whiskey, as despite the disappointing loss last week, LSU football is back at it again today, with a lot still on the line.  They still have a good shot at finishing 10-2, playing in a New Year's bowl game, and there's still an outside (very outside) shot at sneaking back into the playoffs.  Now I'm not holding my breath for that playoff shot, but even still it's safe to say the 2018 LSU football season has so far exceeded my expectations.  

For this week's #wakeywhiskey selection I figured I'd check out some of the Bite and Booze samples I've been sitting on.  I had heard of Angel's Envy before, but I don't ever recall trying some, so this is as good of a time as ever, right?  Angel's Envy spirits are made by Louisville Distilling Company, which recently opened a new distillery in downtown Louisville, Kentucky.  This sample, however, was produced in nearby Bardstown, KY. It's aged on average 6 years in fresh charred oak barrels in the bourbon tradition, then finished for 3 to 6 months in French oak port barrels from Portugal.  This additional finishing violates the rules that would allow this to be called a bourbon, but for all intents and purposes it's practically a bourbon.  

Angel's Envy Port Finish

The pour is a copper color, I wasn't really sure if I should expect a little red from the port barrels, but this could be the result of a golden bourbon with a tinge of red port.  The aroma is mostly vanilla and oak, like a bourbon should be, but also some hints of grapes or raisins from the port aging.  The taste is smooth, with slight fruity notes interacting with the char and vanilla from the oak aging, a hint of honey, and incredibly easy to sip neat at room temperature.  The finish is smooth as well, with a hint of sweetness from the port at the end.

I enjoyed this take on bourbon, but I don't know that I'd be running out to buy some more at a ballpark of $50 for a 750ml bottle.  

Feature Beer Friday: Port Orleans' GL37SON IPA

By Eric Ducote

Good morning everyone, and welcome to another Feature Beer Friday!  This week I'm checking out the GL37SON IPA (as in Steve Gleason, former New Orleans Saint) from Port Orleans Brewing, which is co-owned by former New Orleans Saint Zach Strief.  I've mentioned Port Orleans Brewing before in my post about the New Orleans Beer Tour, but this is the first time I've picked some up in retail packaging. 

The GL37SON IPA is brewed in honor of former Saint Steve Gleason, who has become a famous advocate for people living with ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease.  It's a standard strength IPA, at 5.8% volume and dry-hopped with around 5 pounds per barrel of Mosaic, Azacca, and Lemondrop hops.  The IPA is served hazy in the New England style, and a portion of the sales of each beer go to Team Gleason for care for people suffering from ALS.

Port Orleans' GL37SON IPA

The beer pours a hazy yellow-gold color with a frothy white head, exactly as expected for the style.  The nose is boldly citrus with faint hints of a little resin in there underneath the strong orange and lemon citrus aroma.  The taste is more of the same, with an underlying malt sweetness that gets easily overpowered by the dry hopping.  The finish is clean, with lingering citrus leaving me wanting more.  

Regardless of the good cause, this is another easy drinking hoppy option for Louisiana drinkers looking for citrus hop flavors.  I wouldn't hesitate to buy some more.  Cheers!    

Wakey Whisky: Nomad Outland Whisky

By Eric Ducote

Good morning to all you Tiger fans on this beautiful gameday as the Tigers take on the hated team from Alabama.  Last season I tried to get a little superstitious for the Alabama game and try for a whisky that I went into with low expectations, and yeah, LSU lost.  This year I don't have low expectations for this game.  I don't necessarily have high expectations either though, I have no idea how this is going to play out!  (I know that's always true to some degree, but sometimes you just get a feeling...)  So I picked out a whisky (without the 'e' in this case) that I had never tried before and, just like tonight's game, went into it without any expectations.  

Nomad Outland Whisky

For this task, I found a bottle of Nomad Outland Whisky.  It's not technically a scotch, but it's born in Scotland, so they spell whiskey without the 'e' in the Scottish style.  It's a collaboration between master scotch distiller from The Dalmore Richard Paterson (nicknamed "The Nose") and master distiller Antonio Flores of Gonzalez Byass sherry producers in Jerez, Spain.  The whisky starts as a blend of 5 to 8 year old scotch whiskies before being aged for another 3 years in sherry casks, then transferred to Spain for another year of aging in Pedro Ximenez casks.  So this is a minimum of 9 years in the barrel, but probably averaging at least 10.  It's bottled in Spain (hence it's labeled as 'Outland Whisky' rather than scotch) at 82.6 proof.  Now on to the spirit... 

The color is a clear amber, very appealing in the bottle and in the glass.  The nose is potent with oak, a little peat, and definite fruity sherry notes.  The taste is smooth and complex, with peat notes, sweet malt, vanilla from the oak, raisin and plum flavors, all blended together expertly.  The finish is more fruit notes and this one goes down easy.  I didn't have any expectations going into this pour, but it's honestly one of the best whiskies I've tried in a while.  It's a multi-faceted complex and delicious spirit, and if the Tigers can exceed expectations tonight the same way this "Outland Whisky" did, then we're in for a great game.

Geaux Tigers!  (And be sure to look for Jay and the Bite and Booze team on today's College Gameday on ESPN!) 

Feature Beer Friday: Founders 2017 Kentucky Breakfast Stout

By Eric Ducote

Good morning everyone on this Gameday eve, and welcome to another edition of Feature Beer Friday!  Today I'm headed up to Michigan, in the figurative sense, to try the 2017 version of the Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout.  Founders Brewing has been around in Grand Rapids, Michigan since 1997, making it pretty old and established in the world of craft beer.  Technically Founders is no longer considered a 'craft' brewery as they are 30% owned by San Miguel's parent company, but in my opinion that's a far cry from the breweries that have sold out 100% to AB-Inbev.  

One of Founders' most successful and popular beers is the subject of this review, the Kentucky Breakfast Stout.  It's a big imperial stout brewed with a lot of coffee (hence the 'breakfast' in the name) and chocolate.  It's then aged for a year in bourbon barrels before being released once annually each spring.  It can be found on tap, in 12 ounce 4-packs, and in 750ml bottles.  The bottle I have today is a 12 ounce bottle from the 2017 release, so at this point it's getting close to 2 years in the cellar.

Founders 2017 Kentucky Breakfast Stout

The pour is dark rich brown, almost black, with a couple of fingers' worth of frothy tan head.  The aroma is strong with bourbon and coffee, with a bit of roasted malt bitterness.  The taste is smooth, especially considering this beer is just over 12% alcohol, with more coffee and bourbon notes but also some sweet tones from the chocolate and still a hint of bitter roasted malt.  The mouthfeel is silky smooth, this is a dangerously easy drinker, and I think I'm going to have to stop after one and switch things up!  This still reigns supreme as one of the best barrel-aged imperial stouts in the world, so this Spring, if you see some of the 2019 release on the shelves, make a purchase.  Cheers!   

Feature Beer Friday: Mikkeller Beer Geek Breakfast Brunch Big Blend

By Eric Ducote

Good morning everyone!  Today's Feature Beer is the perfect option for a morning beer, the Beer Geek Brunch Big Blend from Mikkeller.  The name is a mashup of the two founders' names, Mikkel Borg Bjergsø, and Kristian Klarup Keller, who started as homebrewers in Denmark before launching Mikkeller and becoming one of the pioneers of gypsy brewing.  Gypsy brewing is a concept where the brewing company doesn't own a physical brewery, but instead uses other breweries for production when space is available and also collaborating with various breweries.  

Mikkeller's first huge beer hit was Beer Geek Breakfast which was an imperial stout with coffee that has been brewed many times since, but most of their beers are one-off special releases and variants.  Since starting the Mikkeller brand has established new locations worldwide, primarily bars but some like in New York City have brewing facilities attached.  This particular beer is one that I found locally at Robert Fresh Market on Highland Rd., the Beer Geek Breakfast Brunch Big Blend.  The original Beer Geek Brunch was also an imperial oatmeal stout with even more expensive coffee, but this one is a special version that's blended from six different aging barrels.  It's a combination of beer aged in bourbon, cherry wine, cognac, tequila, brandy, and whiskey.  I know, bourbon IS whiskey, but I don't know exactly what type the second one is, but I'm guessing that it's a scotch as they released a version of Beer Geek Brunch that was labeled as "Islay Edition" and a version of Beer Geek Breakfast labeled as a "Speyside Edition" so maybe they just got the spelling of whisky associated with scotch wrong?  Enough wondering though, how's the beer? 

Mikkeller Beer Geek Breakfast Brunch Big Blend

As you can see, the head is massive on this one, with an excess of carbonation.  Other reviewers had the same issue, so this isn't just a localized storage problem, but a full batch problem.  Hopefully though, it's not infected and the flavors are still intact.  Past that, the beer itself is a rich dark brown as expected from this 8% stout.  The nose is rich, with all the various barrel agings coming through but none as strong as the coffee from the base beer.  The bourbon is probably the strongest barrel on the aroma, but there's also a definite fruitiness from the cognac, brandy, and wine.  On the taste there's a hint of tequila, but it's the least present barrel flavor, and again the coffee and bourbon are coming through the strongest.

All in all, a very interesting beer, but if anything there is too much going on.  It's absolutely worth a try, but be ready for some heavy carbonation and a multi-pronged assault on the taste buds.  Cheers!

Wakey Whiskey: Jameson Caskmates Stout Edition Irish Whiskey

By Eric Ducote

Good morning Tiger fans!  If I was a superstitious fan I'd be going straight back to some JPS 21-Year Rye after LSU laid the smack down on #2 UGA last week, but I'm not superstitious and I don't really believe that my whiskey choices have any impact on a football game.  That said, it's always been a fun tradition that started in my tailgating days to start off a big day with a wakey whiskey.  That tradition has evolved past tailgating into all game days, and even birthdays, holidays, weddings, and other special events.  If it's a cause for celebration, it's a cause for some wakey whiskey!

With that noted, I'm of course going to feature a new whiskey today, as you're here to read about the beverage and it would be boring to write about the same one every time LSU wins, right? There's only so much I could have said about the Roaming Man Tennessee Straight Rye whiskey that I started off the season with, and you would have had 5 weeks of that one!  So this week, an Irish Whiskey with a twist, the Jameson Caskmates Stout Edition.  This one starts out as a standard batch of Jameson Irish Whiskey, and then is aged further in barrels that were used to age an Irish craft-brewed stout.  

Jameson Caskmates Stout Edition Irish Whiskey

The color is basically the same as regular Jameson, golden with hints of orange.   The nose is smooth, with hints of honeysuckle, mineral water, and a hint of fruit.  There's a minimal 'burn' on this whiskey, as it's triple distilled in the Irish tradition and bottled at 80 proof.  The result is an extremely smooth sipping whiskey, with a hint of chocolate malt notes on the taste combined with the fruit and honey flavors of the base whiskey.  It finishes easy with another little hint of chocolate.

Overall, I really enjoy this whiskey, although I don't know that I really get much 'stout' out of it.  I think it would have been even better with more time in those beer barrels, but I also feel like it's a lot harder to impart the beer flavors into a whiskey than it is to pull whiskey flavors into a beer.  I admire the creativity to mix up the process, and at a reasonable price around $30, it's not a bad buy.  I'm going to have to try the IPA edition next, as I feel like hop flavors might work even better.  Until then, cheers, and GEAUX TIGERS! 

Feature Beer Friday: Crown Valley's Imperial Pumpkin Smash Stout

By Eric Ducote

Good morning everyone, it's finally starting to feel like Fall for more than a day at a time, and as everyone knows, Fall means pumpkin EVERYTHING.  Beer has never been an exception to this trend, as pumpkin beers have been popping up ever since craft beer started its renaissance.  Generally I'm not a huge fan of pumpkin beers, but most are lighter styles with bland pumpkin seasonings... not the case with this offering from Crown Valley.

Crown Valley Brewing & Distilling is located in rural southeast Missouri, in an area known primarily for wineries.  They produce a range of flagship beers and ciders, in addition to seasonal and high abv beers.  I very rarely see their flagship beers in our market, but occasionally spot the ciders and every year their Imperial Pumpkin Smash Stout hits shelves.  This beer is a high-abv imperial stout base, with 10.6% alcohol and 48 IBU.  It's loaded with rich dark malts and balanced out with some noble hops as well as Chinook which is known for a piney character.  

Crown Valley's Imperial Pumpkin Smash

The beer (a fresh 2018 version) pours a dark chocolate color, as an imperial stout should, with a lighter than expected head but great retention.  The nose is a combination of bitter roasted coffee notes, sweeter chocolate malt notes, and an undeniable pumpkin flavor blended with the spices always associated with pumpkin desserts.  The taste is a beautiful follow through on the nose, with complex malt flavors that work extremely well with the pumpkin and spice.  My favorite thing about this beer is that it still tastes like an imperial stout with pumpkin on top rather than it tasting like I'm drinking a glass of pumpkin pie.  

This remains one of my favorite pumpkin beers alongside the Saint Arnold Pumpkinator, and I'll almost certainly be buying some more before the season is over.  Cheers! 

Wakey Whiskey: Jefferson's Presidential Select 21-Year Rye

By Eric Ducote

Good morning everyone and welcome back to Wakey Whiskey here at Bite And Booze.  Last week I broke out one of my "bigger" whiskeys in anticipation of a big matchup with Florida, and this week is an even bigger matchup with Georgia even if the loss last week takes off a smidge of luster.  The truth is, LSU's still almost as in control of their own destiny as possible, just without any more margin for error.  Now, I'm not booking my hotel rooms for the championship just yet, but it's still in play, right?  

This week I'm sticking with the Jefferson's line of whiskey, but instead of the 21-year bourbon like I finished off last week, this is the 21-year rye.  There's something fun about drinking a whiskey that's old enough to drink, and I've always been a big fan of rye whiskeys in general, as I find that they tend to be a little more complex than one with a primarily corn grain bill.  

Jefferson's Presidential Select 21-Year Rye

The pour is a dark brown with hints of red, a similar color (as expected) to the 21-year bourbon.  The nose has strong notes of caramel and licorice, with a bit of cinnamon spice.  It's sweet, with a bit of a burn for the 90.4 proof whiskey but the licorice is a bit surprising to me.  The taste is strong with oak, cinnamon, caramel, with the licorice fading and a hint of vanilla coming out.  There's a bit of a burn on the back end, but as a whole it's a very smooth drink of rye, that I like a little more than last week's bourbon.  

Unfortunately this one, like last week's bourbon, is going to be almost impossible to find out in the wild, but the good news is that I still have some left, so if anyone wants to bring a few bottles over to share, I'll be happy to share some of this with you!

Cheers!  And GEAUX TIGERS! 

Feature Beer Friday: St. Bernardus's Abt 12 Quad

By Eric Ducote

Good morning and welcome back to Feature Beer Friday!  I've been featuring a lot of local beers recently, which I'm not ashamed of at all because there are plenty worth featuring, but today I'm headed across the pond to Belgium.  Belgium has always been one of the world leaders when it comes to beer due to their distinctive Belgian-styled ales.  The small country is littered with small breweries (often associated with monasteries) putting out excellent beers.  Belgian ales were really one of my first introductions to the world past macro lagers, as even before the craft scene blew up in Louisiana these options were readily available. One excellent example of a non-Trappist Belgian brewery is St. Bernardus, known for a wide range of styles and their distinctive Witbier.  Today's offering though, is their Abt 12, one of their three "core" beers and the strongest of the bunch. 

St. Bernardus Abt 12

This beer is a 10% abv Belgian-style Quad, which is sometimes referred to as a Belgian Dark Strong Ale.  Typically Belgian ales start at their enkel or "single" which is the lightest offering and usually drank by the monks themselves. After that is a dubbel which is a little stronger and darker, the tripel which is stronger still although typically lighter in color and more floral, and the quadrupel which is dark like the dubbel and even stronger.  The Abt 12 is one of the most popular and well regarded versions of the quadrupel style.  

The beer pours a brown color reminiscent of a coca cola with a very bubbly off-white head. The aroma is fruity, dominated mostly by sweeter plum flavors but also some grape and a little bit of floral hoppiness.   It's extremely pleasing and inviting, and I can't wait to get in a sip.  The mouthfeel is a little thinner than I remember from my early days of beer appreciation, but the flavors are still full and complex, with some rock candy sweetness, fruity esters from the yeast, and a floral bitter balance from the hops.  This was a fresh bottle of Abt 12, but I'd imagine the sweet and fruity flavors would be enhanced with age while the hoppy notes fade.  This beer has earned a reputation as one of the best in the world, and it does not disappoint.

St. Bernardus Abt 12 should be pretty easy to find around Baton Rouge, either in a corked & caged 750 ml bottle, a 4-pack of 11.2 oz. bottles, or in a gift set along with the dubbel, tripel and a glass like you see pictured above.  I know it's "on trend" to fill the beer fridge with all hazy IPA these days, but here's an outstanding chance of pace.  Cheers! 

      

Wakey Whiskey: Jefferson's Presidential Select 21-Year Bourbon

By Eric Ducote

Good morning everyone, and happy GAMEDAY to you all!  This afternoon the Fighting Tigers of LSU are taking on the hated Florida Gators, so I figured that called for stepping up my whiskey game a bit.  I've had this bottle of Jefferson's Presidential Select 21-year for quite some time, as it officially released on April 1, 2013.  Unfortunately I'm getting down to the very end, so I had to make sure I gave it the full wakey whiskey honors before my bottle is dry.  

Jefferson's Presidential Select (named after Thomas Jefferson) is produced by Jefferson's Bourbon, which is owned by Castle Brands along with a few names you might recognize in the Irish Whiskey world like Knappogue Castle and Clontarf.  The first two editions of Presidential Select were the 17-year and the 18-year, but they were made from a wheated whiskey that was distilled at Stitzel-Weller of Pappy Van Winkle fame.  The Presidential Select 17-Year actually won the whiskeys of the world tournament that Jay and I hosted (along with James Lawson and Jeremy Spikes) back when we were producing the Raise A Glass radio show, and the 18-Year offering has been featured on Bite and Booze before in a Whiskey Wednesday post.  This 21-Year offering was not distilled by Stitzel-Weller though, and it has no wheat in the grain bill, so the flavor profile is definitely expected to be different.  

Jefferson's Presidential Select 21-Year Bourbon

The pour is dark as a 21-Year bourbon should be, the barrels selected for this batch ranged from 21 to 24 years old, and that's a lot of time for that liquor to soak in and out of the wood and absorb that char and the flavors.  The nose is strong with oak notes, again to be expected from a 21-Year bourbon, but there are also notes of leather and a hint of citrus.  Mostly though, the oak and associated char flavors stand out.  The taste is smooth, the oakiness is still bold, and vanilla comes through as well, the citrus is still there in a very small amount creating a well rounded profile.  

The finish is smooth as well, with minimal alcohol burn and a still dominant flavor of oak.  There's a subtle cinnamon spice throughout, perhaps some rye went into the grain bill in place of the wheat?  i don't think this is quite as impressive as the 17 and 18-Year batches, but it's still a magnificent bourbon.  

With that said, Cheers!  And Geaux Tigers! 

Feature Beer Friday: Parish's Pure Tropics IPA

By Eric Ducote

Good morning everyone and welcome to another Feature Beer Friday here at Bite and Booze.  This week I'm going to take a look at one of the recent hoppy releases from Parish Brewing out of Broussard, Louisiana.  Those that read this space regularly, and most of you in the South Louisiana area are certainly already familiar with Parish, so I'll dive right into the beer review!  

Parish Brewing's Pure Tropics IPA

This particular beer is the Pure Tropics IPA.  It's a 7% abv brewed with an IPA base recipe then conditioned on mango, pineapple, and pink guava puree.  Sounds amazing to me!  

The pour is effervescent, with a golden orange color that absolutely fits in with the NEIPA style and the tropical notes to the beer.  The aroma is a beautiful blend of hoppy flavors and tropical fruit, with the mango coming through strongest in my opinion, although I'm not all that familiar with the pink guava fruit.  Pineapple is a flavor that tends to dominate any drink, which is why it was always a key ingredient to the jungle juice back in my college days, but it's well blended here and doesn't take over the beer entirely.  Each sip is fantastic, with the hoppy citrus notes married with the fruit flavors in a harmonious relationship.  

Parish has another great offering with this round of Pure Tropics, and I'm pretty sure there is still plenty to be found out and about in town, so if you see a 4-pack, buy with confidence.  

Wakey Whiskey: Willett Pot Still Reserve Bourbon

By Eric Ducote

Good morning everyone, and welcome to another #Gameday edition of #WakeyWhiskey as LSU takes on (Go To Hell) Ole Miss late tonight and maybe into tomorrow morning.  A few days ago I was looking through my liquor collection and looking through some previous wakey whiskey posts and realized that I've never featured this Willett Pot Still Reserve Bourbon.  I've had this bottle for years, I believe it was actually a Christmas present from Jay, but due to its large size and unusual shape it always ended up on the "top shelf" of the liquor cabinet and rarely found its way down.  Rather than keep that trend continuing I decided to pull the bottle down and make it this week's featured whiskey.

Willet Pot Still Reserve is produced by the Willett Distillery, which is also known as the Kentucky Bourbon Distillers.  It's still an independent distillery in Bardstown, Kentucky, and in addition to the Willett brand they produce Noah's Mill, Rowan's Creek, Pure Kentucky, and more labels.  The bottle that I have is actually a 1.75l bottle styled after a pot still, and is a single barrel version of the Pot Still Reserve.  Around 2015 Willett switched from a single barrel labeling to a small batch labeling, but like I said, this is one of the older bottles in my collection, obviously pre-dating that switch.  It even says on the neck label that this is bottle no. 91 of 117 from single barrel no. 870.  (I think it's 870... the last number is cut off, but it's something round so either 870 or maybe 876... doesn't really matter...)  

Willett Pot Still Reserve Bourbon

Upon pouring and taking the picture, I noticed that the bourbon left in the bottle has a reddish tint to it while the bourbon in my glass is more of a traditional brown.  That's just the light playing tricks though, I can promise it's all the same and I wasn't pouring koolaid back into the bottle.  This is bottled at 94 proof (47% abv) and the aroma is a very pleasant combination of oak, vanilla, and a hint of citrus.  The taste is a smooth note of vanilla, with some charred oak coming through as well as a bit of sweeter caramel, all balanced well by the alcohol.  I think this 94 proof bourbon is right in the sweet spot between the standard 80 proof bourbons and the high proof barrel-strength offerings.  It makes for an interesting complex bourbon without being so strong that it takes away from the flavors.

I know you won't likely be able to find this single barrel version, but if you see some Willett Pot Still Reserve out in the wild, I would definitely recommend giving it a try.  Cheers, and Geaux Tigers!