For the first RAB meeting of 2020 we were joined by not one, but two guest speakers – immediately setting the bar too high! We’ll learn.
We first welcomed Greg Costello from Workhouse coffee (director and roaster) whose talk covered a wide range of topics including the need to consider trends in the consumer palate (and the “bliss point” – Google it) when deciding which coffee beans Workhouse Coffee seeks to secure in bulk and how this could be translated to adjuncts in beer brewing (including coffee beans), where we should be including coffee beans in the brewing process, and whether the fruit skin from coffee processing (cascara) could be utilised in brewing. While Greg spoke, we all enjoyed a glass of our very own Jerry’s coffee Kölsch – which Greg was also very impressed by, even suggesting Jerry should commercialise it! If your local supplier is sold out of 10BBl brew systems, you can probably guess where they’ve gone… Don’t forget us when you’re rich and famous, Jerry.
Next we welcomed our second speaker Andy Parker, owner of Elusive Brewing who generously brought along a load of bottles of Elusive’s Spell Binder coffee porter for us to try (further cementing his reputation as ‘Nicest Man In Beer’) while he talked us through the recipe in detail. Spellbinder pays homage to Fuller’s London Porter while further building on the roasted notes through the cold-side addition of whole bean coffee to give a balanced flavour profile.
Both Andy and Greg were then kind enough to hang around after their talks to have a few beers with us, sample some of the RAB home brew, and chat – thanks guys!
If you’re looking for a caffeine kick in Reading, Workhouse Coffee can be found at either 10-12 King Street near the Oracle, or in West Reading at 335 Oxford Road. Or should you find yourself yearning some awesome craft beer (with or without coffee) Elusive brewing have recently opened a tap room which is located at Unit 5 Marino Way in the Hogwood industrial estate, very near to the Siren tap room.