Tal Fishman, founder and owner of Denver-based Whiskey Barrel Coffee (formerly Espresso Smith), has always loved coffee and whiskey. But when he’d put the liquor in his coffee, the whiskey flavor would always overpower.
That’s where his knowledge of history kicked in: In sailing ships, traders put raw coffee beans in whatever barrel they had, whether a rum barrel or a pickle barrel. Raw coffee beans absorb whatever is around them, Fishman said, and the coffee of old often had wild flavors.
So, for a more subtle flavor, why not soak coffee beans in an empty whiskey barrel?
It became an obsession for Fishman and his crew. They invested in various barrels and coffees, but nothing could keep the whiskey flavor in check.
“We wanted something that could maintain the identity of the coffee with the bourbon,” Fishman said. “With everything we put in the barrel, the barrel took over.”
They realized the problem was the coffee — a bigger bean was needed to preserve the coffee flavor.
Fishman remembered drinking a coffee made from rare, high-quality beans in Brazil. He persuaded a farmer in Brazil to filter out these rare beans, which are about 2 percent of the overall crop.
They named the beans “Vitoria Estate” — the Portuguese word for “victory.”
The resulting beverage first tastes like coffee then transitions into a bourbon flavor, Fishman said.
Fishman said although the beans are the key, their formula does have two other crucial aspects: high-quality oak barrels (they cost $400 and require a broker to get them) and melding — an old practice where the raw beans are mixed before roasting.
A high-quality barrel allows whiskey to permeate deeper into its wood, leaving more moisture and flavors to be absorbed into the beans later. Melding gives the roaster more control to roast beans that complement each other during the roasting process.
Since Whiskey Barrel Coffee began experimenting with barrel aging in 2011, a handful of other roasters have joined the trend, including Denver-based Corvus Coffee, which has its whiskey-based Barrel Series line.
In the early days of Corvus, founder and owner Phil Goodlaxson and his business partner and head roaster Travis Gilbert were the roasters, baristas, buyers and sellers. They spent much of their tip money on Scotch and whiskey.
Scotch-aided conversations led to ideas about barrel-aged coffee, and Jake Norris, head distiller at the upcoming Laws Whiskey House, suggested they try aging beans in a whiskey barrel. Norris supplied them with freshly used and empty bourbon barrels and they began.
The first batch was finished in the summer of 2013. Since they use seasonal coffees, each batch is slightly different. But the oak barrels have been the same, full of the sweet and spicy flavors leftover from Laws’ four-grain bourbon.
The aging process varies for each roaster. Corvus ages its raw beans for six to eight weeks.
For Whiskey Barrel, Fishman said it depends on the moisture in the barrel and the beans, plus a secret formula.
Despite hefty price tags — $50 for a 250-gram bottle at Whiskey Barrel and $28 for a 12-ounce bag at Corvus for example — both roasters said their barrel-aged coffees are hot items. Corvus sells out in-store within hours, and Whiskey Barrel sells worldwide, and he can’t keep up with the demand since they make only about 90 bottles per batch.
For Fishman, it’s about the full experience: the customized bottles, the labels and the rich, complex flavors. He’d rather make small batches and preserve the quality than run a big business.
“It’s the old fashioned way of doing things the right way, not skimming on anything, not cutting corners,” Fishman said.
“Some stuff you can’t do faster and cheaper.”
