It’s the first week of fall and Louisiana Craft Beer Week. We can finally sit around wearing sweaters, drinking seasonal beers and discussing what flavors and notes we are tasting like we’re experts.
I wouldn’t necessarily say drinking beer is out of my wheelhouse, but when you add champagne to the mix, I’m always game to act like an expert. Enter the Black Velvet from The Pelican House.
A Black Velvet is traditionally made of half champagne or sparkling wine and half chilled stout. Most people play it safe and go with Guinness and whatever champagne is available.
This cocktail is perfect for people who claim they “don’t drink dark beer” or “don’t like the taste of champagne.”
Since it’s Louisiana Craft Beer Week, I decided to substitute Tin Roof Brewery’s Parade Ground Coffee Porter for the Guinness Stout. I’m sure there are many of you who would tell me to stick with a stout for this cocktail, and discuss the differences between stouts and porters until you are blue in the face.
But I’m here to tell you that this was a perfect combination.
Usually when ordering a Black Velvet, it is served in a champagne flute or Collins glass. The champagne is poured in first, followed by the stout, creating levels of dark and light (very similar to a Black and Tan, a mixture of light and dark beer).
My coffee porter-based drink came in a pint glass and was so dark that I thought my server had heard my order wrong and just brought me a beer. What this tells me is that the beer was probably poured too quickly into the champagne, causing it to mix. But here’s the thing: None of that matters to me as long as it’s awesome.
As soon as I took the first sip, I knew I had been wrong about the server just bringing me a beer. I immediately tasted the crispness of champagne followed by a decadent, rich after-flavor of coffee porter. The champagne wasn’t too sweet, while the dark beer wasn’t too bitter, which, in my book, is the best of both worlds.
Not only is this drink perfect for Louisiana Craft Beer Week, it’s definitely one to keep in your back pocket for St. Patrick’s Day.
Black Velvet (adapted from Guinness cocktail recipes)
* ˝ flute of champagne or sparkling wine
* ˝ flute of Tin Roof Parade Ground Coffee Porter
Pour the champagne into the flute. Top it off with the coffee porter, being sure to pour slowly so they don’t completely mix.
