Introducing Parabajava 2019—the latest coffee-infused twist on our iconic barrel-aged stout.
We took our Russian Imperial Stout, Parabola, and blended in freshly roasted Ethiopian coffee beans from local roaster Spearhead Coffee, to give you what has become one of our most popular annual releases.
Parabola’s notoriously dark, roasted, bourbon-barrel character is amplified with freshly roasted coffee beans that lend distinctive blueberry and milk chocolate notes to the beer.
The perfect sipper to get you through the winter months.
This year’s batch uses Ethiopia Misty Valley coffee beans from the region of Yirgacheffe, Gedeo. These beans have a much more berry character (blueberry in specific) with milk chocolate rounding it out. According to Eric Ponce, barrelmaster, “it’s one of my personal favorite coffee beers I have ever had the pleasure of drinking. Adding again the reason being the very unique milk chocolate covered blueberry and strawberry notes form this Ethiopia Misty Valley bean. These flavors from the bean mingle beautifully with the bourbon, vanilla and bitter chocolate flavors from our Imperial Stout Parabola.”
From Spearhead’s Perspective: Jeremy Sizemore, co-owner at Spearhead
Eric and I tried quite a few different beans before Eric and his team landed on the Ethiopia Misty Valley. It always starts with Eric and me meeting and he telling me all about his vision for the beer. Last year he chose the Brazil Oberon Natural Process because he wanted to emphasize rich and chocolatey coffee notes, and this year he wanted to do something different. He wanted to pull some berry notes out in addition to still keeping the rich and chocolatey notes we had the previous year. After tasting quite a few varietals, it was between the Misty Valley and a natural process El Salvadorian bean, both great coffees with great berry notes. But once he and his teams tried both with the actual beer, it was apparent that the Ethiopia Misty Valley was the one!
— Eric Ponce, Vintage BarrelmasterWe love working with local artisans like Spearhead Coffee that share the same passion in their art as we do
Then it was all about getting the right roast for the coffee. That’s where I came in with some suggestions for developing the coffee in the roasting process to enable better extraction (pulling out a good balance of sugars and acidity), making sure to highlight the subtle berry notes he was going for. It was a really fun and thorough process, for sure!
This beer is not for the faint of heart at 13.2% ABV and is now available for sale exclusively at Firestone Walker locations. Bottles cost $10.99 plus tax & CRV each, only available at Firestone Walker with limited draft hitting your favorite bar in the coming weeks.
This amazing beer is available exclusively in our locations. Plan your visit in one of them.
