New Belgium: Imperial Coffee Chocolate Stout

Again, another Lips of Faith beer. You know how much I love these and the brewery but this time I thought I would try something new. This is a beer I have been looking for since I knew it was going to be released and I decided, you know what? Why don't I do a little research on the New Belgium Site about the Imperial Coffee Chocolate Stout. You know what I found?!?!? A DINNER IDEA!!! Was it a good call to pair a beer with the sites suggested pairing? Hey, it couldn't be a bad idea.

So I don't really know who Joey McCarthy is but he is proclaimed as the New Belgium Steak Saint. I love steak. I want steak. I need steak. He suggest I eat an Espresso Crusted Filet Mignon. Honestly the recipe is very simple and I had just about everything I needed already. The only things I needed to pick up happened to be the meat, the arugula, and the salad dressing. What could be better than that!



The first thing that needed to be done was to candy the pecans. SWMBO actually took the steps in doing this for me. She made me some of these for Thanksgiving. I guess it was practice for something she knew would come. After that I made the Dry Rub and coated the steaks. I was excited to use the Verona Blend from Starbucks. It is pretty much the only roast of coffee I love and I actually plan to make a homebrew with it. That is exactly why it is around. I mean, I prefer my coffee in my beer.



I was not sure if this is what they meant by coat and make a crust but it was the best I had to go on. There was no picture of the recipe. After the saute I threw them in the pan like it was meant to be done and baked them out. SWMBO finished the salad and then we go to dinner.

About the recipe... Well, honestly I love spicy and peppery things, but I think this was far too much. SWMBO hates spicy things but she found this good smothered in ketchup. I sucked it up and took it bite for bite but the Imperial Coffee Chocolate Stout took a lot of the edge off... and the steak took a lot of the edge off of the beer as well. Weird how that whole pairing thing works. I kind of wish this beer had a name, but oh well I guess...



I mean, it was not bad but just way too hot. The salad was good but the dressing mixing with the strawberries was kind of intense too... It was fine with the pecans. Maybe I should get to the beer though... You can really pick out the dark roast of the coffee and it is a little bit spicy. It really works for this beer. The thick, rich, malty body and the dark malt bitterness bring this beer across different flavor realms and kills the sweetness up from. The 9% alcohol in this beer is very much noticeable and it is a little slick in the mouth.

Overall, I'd say give the recipe a try. No beer is harmed in the making of it, but if I were to only pick one, it would be to just drink the beer. Unless you like very peppery things. I will pass again though. The beer is calling me.

Cheers!