This is probably less relevant to anyone not in Oregon but I thought it was a good story with a nice local interest angle to it: Deschutes Brewery teams up with Backporch Coffee (reported on my other blog).

Deschutes is brewing a coffee-infused Imperial Porter with coffee provided by a local company. The beer, aptly named "Backporch Imperial Porter," will be available in the pub only on their X-Tap. Their X-Tap is reserved for special, experimental beers that are only brewed in small quantities.

Backporch Coffee Roasters is a small shop here in Bend that roasts their own coffee, just opened late last year. I like the fact that Deschutes has partnered with a local company to produce this beer (when they just as easily could have purchased coffee anywhere). I wonder if they did any special roasting just for the brewery, or if they limited the roast to coffee—grains would roast just as well, I should think.

As for a beer profile, I don’t know yet. The 20K Imperial Porter currently listed on the "now pouring" page indicates an IBU of 65 and alcohol content of 8%; the new one will likely be similar, though with strong coffee character to it. Can’t wait to try it.