Oscura:

A warm-fermented, cold-lagered cerveza oscura

Availability: Seasonal. ABV: 5.3%

Our coffee beer is more "iced coffee" than "double-mocha-mud", more "summer quencher" than "winter warmer". I start with a brown Mexican lager to compliment the coffee of choice, "Nicaragua" (beans from the La Fem Grower's Co-operative, roasted by Just Coffee of Madison.) I include flaked maize both for added creaminess and to appease the sun gods. Extra-warm fermentation lets the yeast create more interesting flavors (the California-common effect, or "Vapor Beer", if you speak Beer-Spanglish.) Hop bitterness is increased to offset the sweet flavor of un-brewed coffee. Whole beans are soaked in the beer during cold maturation - the alcohol extracts and retains aromatics that would otherwise be lost to hot water. You want numbers? Well, numbers you shall have: 15 degrees Plato; 37 IBU's; 5.3% ABV.