The Mad Squirrel Brewery has long been one of my favourites, and for more than one reason. Beyond producing consistently quality beers, they have been a bastion of the Hertfordshire and craft brewing landscape for as long as I can remember. Furthermore, it was the Mad Squirrel Brewery which first turned my attention to what can be achieved with contemporary porters and stouts with their original brew ‘Hoodwink’. This beer in its original incantation was a 5.3% ABV white chocolate stout, making it a great introductory product to that beer style for me at the time.
As a fan of the brewery, you may understand my delight at being granted the opportunity to an exclusive interview with their director Greg Blesson in February this year. You can listen to the full interview here. From this meeting a connection was made which ultimately culminated in discussions to collaborate on a unique coffee-based Winter stout for their range. This was to be developed using Kokebi Coffee, an independent coffee company which produces a range of gourmet, sustainable and Fairtrade blends which I work alongside.
This wouldn’t be the first time I have worked on a collaboration with a brewery using Kokebi Coffee either. Previously Kokebi Coffee and I have collaborated with Glasgow based Overtone Brewing Co on two Imperial Stouts, Vanilla Froth and Coconut Froth which used Kokebi Coffee’s Super Crema in both instances to create a flavoured latte stout. This time round Mad Squirrel’s approach was to be different, and consequently a distinctive blend in its own right was selected in order to achieve this unique beer, Carachino.
The order of the day was to create a Caramel Macchiato stout which demanded plenty of sweet, dark chocolate nuances. For that reason we elected Kokebi Coffee’s Intenso blend which is a dark roast coffee at a strength of 5/6, made using 100% Arabica beans which provides a rich, dark chocolate flavour. Without further ado the Kokebi Coffee team began preparing, grinding and packaging enough Intenso to fill the tanks at the brewery, and within a few weeks I was back at the Mad Squirrel brewery for a tank tasting.
The results were outstanding, but upon further discussions with Jack Blesson who heads up the production, they decided to leave the coffee in the brew for a few weeks longer to further infuse. Additionally, the inclusion of sea salt was nominated to help counterbalance some of the sweeter flavour nuances and thus the brew was complete!
The release announcement was now confirmed for Thursday the 25th of November, coinciding with the unveiling of Mad Squirrel‘s annual Christmas Pastry Pack, of which Carachino features alongside an imperial raspberry version of the aforementioned Hoodwink brew. An especially pleasing footnote to me, as my love of this beer and brewery had come full circle.
With that said, let’s not forget about Carachino itself, which a testament to the excellent quality of brewing at Mad Squirrel and Kokebi's Intenso coffee. Upon opening the can you’re treated to aromas of both coffee and caramel with vanilla like fragrance notes. The taste doesn’t disappoint either! Smooth and sweet, caramel, vanilla, chocolate and coffee romance the senses in an exceptionally even finish, helped further by the added oats and lactose. There’s also a gently malty and dry bitterness to this beer, which counterbalances the sweeter profiles of this 9.0 ABV Imperial Stout thanks to the added sea salt, malts and hops.
An abundance of malts were used in this beer, including heavily roasted chocolate malts and lighter malts with sweeter profiles. These were chosen in conjunction with Herkules hops which with their bittering profile and aromatic notes of black pepper, spice, florals and pine working in culminative service with all the ingredients to convey complexity as well as decadence.
My conclusion of Carachino is that it’s an absolute triumph of a Winter Stout, and if you’re anywhere near as persuaded as I am over this beer, there are plenty of places to get your hands on some! Carachino will be available at Mad Squirrel tap rooms on draft and in cans. Additionally, you can get Carachino via the Mad Squirrel website as a standalone item, or as part of the 2021 Winter Pastry Pack which features:
· Carachino | Caramel Macchiato Stout | 9.0 ABV
· Hoodblink | DBL Raspberry White Stout | 8.0 ABV
· Crack Le Whip | DBL Walnut Milk Stout | 8.0 ABV
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