Java shows up in Worcester beers

Ryan Cashman 

With the weather being as cold as it can be during a typical New England winter, it’s no surprise that the drinks this time of year are either warm in temperature or in flavor. If you’re thinking “warmth” cannot be a flavor, I invite you to think of something we’ve all seen: iced coffee drinkers in the dead of winter. Coffee, by its nature, is associated with heat. Most of us drink it hot in the morning; therefore, we conceive it as a warm flavor. Whether it’s iced or not makes no difference. 

Bearing that in mind, two of Worcester greatest breweries have teamed up with Acoustic Java, the city’s premier coffee roaster, to create two unique and different seasonal beers.

Let’s start on Millbrook Street with Greater Good Imperial Brewing Co. A relative newcomer to the Central Mass. brewing scene, Greater Good has made a statement by being the only company in the area strictly creating and serving Imperials. The new offshoot brand – Soul Purpose – focuses more on IPAs and experimental flavoring. 

Currently available only on tap, Soul Purpose’s Heart of MA(ssachusetts) is a milk stout infused with a specialty coffee from Acoustic Java. The roast is a bourbon barrel-aged Sumatra, which, until recently, was sitting in the roasting room of Acoustic’s Brussels Street location. 

This beer has a strong coffee overtone, with sweet undertones of milk, vanilla and bourbon. It’s easy on the palate and perfect for those beer drinkers who prefer the familiar flavors of stouts to the harsh bite of an IPA. No word as of yet on whether this beer will be part of the full-time lineup or just a seasonal option. 

We’re on to Shrewsbury Street and Wormtown Brewing Co., with its surprisingly understated seasonal ale, Blizzard of ’78. An understated beer is not a bad thing, especially with ales. The ’78’s main flavor comes, yet again, from Acoustic Java’s coffee. The roast used is not specified, but it makes the beer very smooth, light and a tad frothy. The subtle character of this beer plays to its advantage because you enjoy drinking it instead of analyzing it. It’s also cleverly ironic that it’s named after possibly the harshest snowstorm in Massachusetts history. 

As I said in my inaugural column, beer drinking is not always analytical. Most of the time it is about sitting down, whether on your porch for a summer’s eve or in front of a fire as snow falls outside your steamed windows, and relaxing. Each of these beers represent one of these types of drinking. With the Heart of MA, you’re thinking, examining and extracting different flavors with each sip. Blizzard of ’78 is just plain good, with no added pretense about being anything but a smooth, seasonal brew. 

For the coffee, I can only say that you will be hard pressed to find any better than what’s being roasted over at Acoustic.