When the River North team adds coffee to their award-winning beers—such as Nightmare Fuel, the coffee imperial stout that won gold at the World Beer Cup, European Beer Star, and Brussels Beer Challenge in 2024—they work with a local roaster to source fresh beans, medium-roasted, and them whole to the brite tank—but limiting oxygen exposure is critical.
Denver’s River North has enjoyed an incredible run since 2022, winning 11 medals combined at the Great American Beer Festival and World Beer Cup, plus many more at major international competitions that include the European Beer Star and Brussels Beer Challenge. Along the way, the brewery has cemented itself as one of the best in the country at producing delicious high-gravity beers packed with flavorful ingredients—from barrel-aged imperial coffee stouts to pumpkin-spiced saisons and beyond.
In this 58-minute video course, River North founder Matt Hess—with an assist from head brewer Matt Malloy—shares their methods and the thinking behind them, including:
- the overarching philosophy behind the flavor intensity
- imperializing styles that still maintain their identity
- designing recipes for ultra-high-gravity beers
- carefully selecting specialty grains
- scaling up existing recipes for maximum impact
- starting at 30–34°P (1.129–1.149), then feeding the fermentation to go higher
- mindful selection of sugars for flavor and fermentability
- balancing sweetness and ethanol warmth in huge beers
- selecting and blending dried yeast strains to get sufficient attenuation
- using your mash tun’s max capacity as the starting point
- embracing inefficiency and wort loss
- using long boils and sugars to hit target gravity
- high oxygenation and pitch rates to aid fermentation
- adding both dextrose and yeast to boost gravity and keep the fermentation going
- dealing with stuck fermentations and other pitfalls
- planning for barrel-aging, from excess beer to the angel’s share
- flavoring with coffee beans and cacao nibs
- packaging and carbonating thick high-gravity beers
- using the distillation method to test for ABV
And more.
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