Every Great Beer has a Story to be Told
I was asked once, “Why do you call yourself a storyteller instead of a writer?” For me, the distinction is that a storyteller wants to become intimate personally with the subject matter. I really take this to heart in everything I write, not that all writers don’t do the same. It makes me think about all the stories my dad and grandpa would tell and the feeling I would get from those stories.
Three years ago, I started on a journey to learn as much as I can about the breweries and craft beer being produced in my home state of Nebraska. I have met so many wonderful people that created breweries in towns all over the state and who have taken risks to start a business that they are passionate about. It has been great to get to tell their stories!
Every taproom is an incredible gathering place for people near and far that can enjoy an amazing craft beer and conversation! I have met so many people from our state in my travels and have formed many new friendships. I have also met folks from as far away as California, Alaska, and New York at Nebraska breweries and it is fun talking with them about craft beers from Nebraska as well as their states. The conversations start with the beer you are having and end with smile as you move on down the road.
Last year I became interested in learning the process of bringing a new beer to market. I wanted to understand everything from label design, formulating the recipe, brewing the beer, and marketing it. My son Paul, who is also my graphic artist, told me that he would really like to do a beer label someday. I told him that I thought that would be a lot of fun and I would start to talk with a few breweries about it.
I think it was the very next day that I was at Pint Nine Brewing Company having a beer. I started a conversation with James (Jimi) Watson, brewer and owner, about finding an opportunity for my son to design a label for them. Without hesitation, Jimi replied, “That’s a great idea and I think it should be a Joe Java-Stout coffee stout”.
One of the Three First Concepts by Paul Meyer Co
As soon as I left Pine Nine, I called Paul, and told him we have an opportunity to do a label with Pint Nine! He was excited and went to work on some concepts. But instead of me telling how the design came about, here is Paul in his own words.
“Working on the Joe's Storyteller Stout label design was really great. Joe, like a lot of my clients, trust me with a lot so I typically start out the process by sketching different directions for the project to go. These directions are typically varying in idea and solutions to whatever problem we are needing to solve and each have their own unique way to solve the problem.
The direction Joe resonated with the most was the idea of this traveling storyteller who is passionate, enthusiastic, and ultimately a bit kooky, much like Joe. the way I decided to represent this character visually in the label was by placing him in a scene where he could be enjoying beer, the company of others, and storytelling. Unlike Joe's adventures however, we switched the scene up and switched out some of these variables and hence this traveler is in woods spreading the news to all the forest creatures.
With this idea coming together Joe and I were then able to collaborate and really hone in on details that would make the story a bit more holistic and tie the actual beer back into the label. A detail that did this was the coffee tree behind the traveler and the darker hue of the beer so that it was closer to a stout than a lager or IPA. These little details helped to pull it all together to hopefully place anyone who enjoys this beer into the same adventure that Joe has with every beer.”
One of the things most people know about me is that I like to support local as much as possible. When selecting the coffee for Joe’s Storyteller Stout I wanted to include some local favorites from places like Clout Coffee, Green Beans Coffee, and A Hill of Beans Coffee Roasters.
Last summer, I began to try different combinations of coffee in cold brew. The reason I used cold brew is that I felt it would give a more accurate flavor as to how it might appear in the beer. Lots of trials and maybe a few jittery days. Yes, cold brew can be a little bit stronger on the caffeine side! But the trials came down to a final selection.
My coffee style is more on the dark roasted side. I love the deeper, bolder flavor of a dark roasted coffee. I chose Green Beans French Roast for that very reason. Now to build upon that, I am big fan of coconut! Hill of Beans has a Toasted Coconut Dream that has been the best coconut flavored coffee I have ever had. These two flavors in a stout to me would really start to pull in the chocolate notes of the stout.
Yet there was something missing to make this really unique! I fell in love with bourbon barrel aged coffee when I got my first taste of Clout Coffee. Bourbon aged coffee beans provide all the aroma and taste of bourbon with no alcohol. The roasting process burns off the alcohol. The amazing thing when using this coffee in a beer is no bump in ABV for the wonderful bourbon flavor! This completed the trio of coffees that I felt would be a great combination for aroma and flavor.
The first step is milling the grains
Getting the opportunity to be part of the brew day was awesome! Over the course of year, there were conversations about the style of stout, what ABV, how much to brew, etc.
Jimi and Lea (owner and Director of Business Operations) were great taking me through the process of determining the batch size which ended up being 5 barrels. There are 42 gallons in a barrel to get an idea of how many gallons are being produced. The next item was determining how many bombers to produce for the taproom and for distribution.
One of the important steps is getting the label approved by the TTB (Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau). Words mean everything when it comes to the labeling which I quickly learned. For instance, 22 fl. oz. had to also include beside it - 1 pint, 6 fl. oz.).
There are a mixture of 5 different types of malted grains that went into Joe’s Storyteller Stout
Behind the scenes, you don’t realize how much planning and what it takes to produce a beer. There are over 500 lbs. of malted grains including barley, wheat, and oats that went into the stout. The variety of the blends lend not only to the flavor of the stout but also the mouthfeel.
As the grains are crushed and being prepared to go into the mash, the aroma of the grains can be smelled throughout the brewery. The grains make their way into the mash tun where water is added to turn the grain starches into sugars.
You can see the mash in the mash tun and the grains, but the interesting part was getting a small sample at the end of the process to see the consistency. The kernels of the grains are exposed but the husks are still present. This is key so that the mash doesn’t become one big sticky ball! The liquid from the mash is called the wort. The wort is extracted and removes all the grain. The extract is super sweet! It is hard to believe the starch from the grains can be converted into that much sugar!
The steamy wort comes in as it gets ready for addition of hops and goes through the boil process. The color already was a wonderful deep brown. The hops used for the stout are Sabro hops. Sabro has notes of tropical fruit and coconut as key characteristics. Seemed like a natural choice for blending with the coconut coffee. The target IBU for the stout is 20 IBUs. The addition of the hops quickly changed the aroma of the stout and I couldn’t believe the difference between what the hop pellets smelled like to how they smelled in the wort.
The transfer to the fermentor now takes place and the yeast is added. The yeast will turn all of that sugar into alcohol. Towards the end of the fermentation, the coffee will be added and will stay in for enough time to give the desired flavor. This particular stout will come in at 6% ABV.
The final product
This has been an incredible journey! Thanks again Pint Nine Brewing for doing this. I hope everyone enjoys Joe’s Storyteller Stout. Remember, “Every great beer has a story to be told”!
Cheers!