There’s a new kind of distiller-roaster collaboration hitting the Northwest. Though fine Northwest-purveyed coffees have found their ways into numerous spirits and liqueurs around the region, spirits have had a harder time finding their way into coffees. Until now.
An inter-state project between DOMA Coffee Roasters, of Post Falls, Ida., and Dry Fly Distilling, of Spokane, Wash., has resulted in the Northwest’s first spirit barrel-aged coffee beans. Though the DOMA folks aren’t the only barrel-agers in the Northwest—Portland’s Water Avenue debuted a Pinot Noir barrel-conditioned coffee in fall 2013—they’re the first to try with whiskey.
“We have followed Dry Fly Distilling for years and thought we should try something with our local whiskey barrels,” says Jim Hottenroth, head roaster at DOMA. “We got two barrels and filled them each with 50 pounds of green coffee and left it for about a month.” After rolling the barrels every day to allow them to soak up the full spectrum of the whiskey’s flavor, Hottenroth and his team sent the beans, which had put on four pounds in whiskey weight, into the roaster.
While the first whiff of the barreled coffee does display unmistakable whiskey aromas, each batch has turned out to be distinctly different. Currently DOMA is finishing up their second Costa Rican batch from their second barrel, and will soon offer their first batch from the third barrel. “Where the first batch had a strong whiskey flavor with lots of caramel, the second batch showed notes of deep red apple and spices,” Hottenroth recalls. In each sip, the whiskey notes are increasingly muted, and the classic chocolate and smoke of a medium-dark roast come through.
Each can of coffee reflects the collaboration with Dry Fly. “We wanted to balance both our brands,” explains Rebecca Hurlen Patano, co-owner of DOMA who helped mastermind the packaging for the specialty coffee. A stamped leather tag is tied on with fishing line and a recycled jute tag is hand-written with barrel and batch numbers and stamped with a thumbprint from the roaster. The DOMA crew recommends the coffee mixed with milk in a latte or mocha as the milk is said to bring out oak, caramel and butterscotch notes.
Dry Fly co-owner-operator Kent Fleischmann, who calls himself a big fan of the local roasters, stopped by the roastery for a taste after the first batch was completed. “He was so supportive and excited about the project, we knew we had found an awesome partner for this coffee,” says Hottenroth. We can only hope this means more Northwest distiller-roaster collusion going forward.
