New Black Xantus Stout Infused with Joebella Coffee
By Katy Budge
Last fall, a new limited-release beer took flight from Firestone Walker Brewing Company’s Nectar Ales in Paso Robles, and the beer world hummed with excitement. It was the first new brew in years from Nectar Ales, an Imperial Stout dubbed Black Xantus that’s aged in American oak barrels and infused with organic fair trade coffee from Joebella Coffee Roasters in Templeton.
Firestone Walker wanted to grow the Nectar Ales line with something in keeping with their craft brewery approach, explained award-winning Brewmaster Matt Brynildson. The concept of an Imperial Stout emerged as a good addition to the existing Red Nectar, Nectar IPA and brown Hemp Ale, and Brynildson and his team sought to make it unique.
“When we thought about using coffee, I thought immediately of Joebella because it’s my favorite local coffeehouse,” Brynildson said. He took some initial beer samples to roaster/owner Joseph Gerardis and, though they worked through the tasting process together, “Joseph came up with the coffee.” Ironically, the best pairing ended up being a Mexican origin coffee, which also matched up perfectly with the Black Xantus story on the back of the bottle.
In keeping with the hummingbird theme of the Red Nectar and Nectar IPA labels, the Black Xantus bottle sports a striking black hummingbird with white wings. However, if anyone claims to have actually seen one of these birds, it’s possible they may have been imbibing too much of the 13 percent alcohol stout. There is indeed a Xantus’ Hummingbird that’s indigenous to Mexico, but the Black Xantus is a fabricated bird that Brynildson described as “a sort of crazed Sasquatch of the hummingbird world that feeds on coffee beans and hangs out in a bourbon barrel.”
Whatever the story, the beer is darn good, with delicate notes of coffee, a little dark cherry and even a hint of bourbon from those barrels the Black Xantus is rumored to favor. Though the inaugural small batch is already sold out, plans for another bigger release are already in the hopper.
