Long on the cards has been our reuniting with the crew at 3FE, and with stout season being upon us of late we thought it the perfect opportunity to finally get that coffee beer we’d been talking up doing now for ages into a tank and into a can for these dark nights. 3FE are one of those Dublin bred companies to be proud of - who consistently embrace all that is nerdy in the fine details of what they do to constantly push forward and the standard raises with them. When Alex and Colin get together people have left the room when the conversation has become about surfactants, pH, water chemistry and TDS as geekery goes into overdrive. Thankfully this time we’re not down the pub for such rubbish craic on the session and these two obsessed people put their efforts to producing a beer instead.
Heart of Chambers is a Double Coffee & Oatmeal Porter brewed using all the bells and whistles our equipment can deliver to take viscosity and texture to new heights while combining the beer with extremely fresh roasted coffee taken straight from 3FE’s roastery in Dublin direct into our tanks. Part of the collaboration here has been for us to brew a base beer which gives breathing room to 3FE’s Kenyan blend Kiriga. We’ve made great effort to minimise our own roast contribution providing instead the low end caramels and toffees you’d expect in a big Porter while Kiriga takes centre space with all the beautiful top notes from its addition. Ground directly below the tank and added in straight away to minimise the loss of any volatiles we’ve added the coffee grind using our dry hopping techniques while building to 9g/L for a high density short contact coffee kick. It shows.
This beer is phenomenal. There’s such a complementary soft silky sweet base in this Porter from the use of nearly 40% Oats while still keeping room for Aromatic, Chocolate and base malts to play too while the coffee is bright, intense and enveloping throwing buckets of fruit like orange and hints of stewed apple and even a bit of juice thrown in there too.