Layers of sticky sweet coconut topped with rich, dark fudge and loads of soul-warming chocolate. Sounds like a decadent cake, and it is, except it’s not one you can eat. This dreamy dessert is liquid and it’s a beer! Craft brewers have been shattering the rules of what beers can be for years, and the rise of the pastry stout exemplifies how creative they have grown.
A new variation of dark, rich stouts has been popping up (to great fanfare) at small craft breweries around the country over the past five or so years. The pastry stout dialed the basic stout up to 11 with the addition of lusciously sweet ingredients. The brews are meant to mimic dessert flavors and are intentionally sweet, thick and strong.
“We usually gather inspiration from ice cream flavors, doughnuts and cakes,” says Josh Kopp, owner and brewer at Hana Koa Brewing.
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The pastry stout has become a phenomenon among craft beers. Many are released in uber-tiny quantities, causing beer fans to line up for hours or race to order online to purchase just a few bottles. Prices can be high (upward of $10 per 12 ounces). But the scarcity and price are justified.
Kim Brisson- Lutz, brewmaster at Maui Brewing Co., said these beers cost more because they require more malt, sugar and other ingredients, “sometimes two to three times the amount of a normal 5% ABV beer. They are also very labor-intensive.” The additional ingredients, called “adjuncts,” may include the likes of coffee, chocolate and vanilla.
Early local versions can be traced to Maui Brewing’s Imperial Coconut Porter, easy to find now, but rather elusive in the past. Black Pearl, a rum barrel-aged version of the coconut porter, took the intensely sweet coconut and chocolate flavors and layered them with notes of vanilla, spice and oak.
Inu Island Ales pushed the pastry stout hype to new levels with limited releases that had fans lining up for hours at the brewery. The thick, sticky stouts are highly sought after around the country because of their scarcity and quality.
The pastry stout doesn’t yet have much of a defined style, like that of an IPA or a Pilsner, and the few boundaries that exist allow for creativity and imagination.
For Beer Lab HI’s head brewer, Eulerson Pajimula, that means experimenting with ingredients and breaking down components of a dessert to get that exact flavor in a beer. “I want you to taste the full spectrum of malts and I don’t want it to be overly sweet. My goal is for it to still taste like beer, but remind you of a dessert,” he says.
When tasked with creating a kulolo beer, instead of just throwing in actual kulolo, he opted to break down the flavors, adding steamed taro, toasted coconut, caramelized brown sugar and vanilla.
The brewers I spoke to agree that the use of the purest ingredients and the careful formulation of recipes is vital to creating beers reminiscent of desserts, with all the various flavors discernible — rather than kitchen-sink beers overloaded with fake ingredients, a frequent criticism of pastry stouts.
“We try to use as many local ingredients as possible,” Kopp says. “We could use extracts for some of these ingredients to lower the cost, but it doesn’t translate as well, in my experience. As expensive as they are, it’s definitely worth it.”
In many cases brewery teams are even processing their own ingredients. Maui Brewing has created a house caramel from cane sugar to add an extra level of richness to a Creme Brulee Stout. “Making the ingredients ourselves was a project in its own but well worth it,” Brisson-Lutz says. The combination of the caramel with Hawaiian vanilla and lactose (milk sugar) really makes this pastry stout indulgent.
Ready to indulge? You’ll have to be patient and keep your eye on social media because these beers pop up in limited quantities. You can find Maui’s Creme Brulee Stout on tap at its Waikiki brewpub, along with White Russian, a cocktail-inspired pastry stout. Beer Lab HI’s next pastry stout comes out in April.
From time to time you’ll also be able to find versions of pastry stouts from beyond the islands, so ask your local shop if they have any sweet treats.
Tim Golden, a certified cicerone, shares his obsession with all things craft beer on the third week of each month. He is part owner of Village Bottle Shop in Kakaako.
