The roots of this collaboration date back to the early days when Caffè Umbria and Georgetown Brewing had addresses on Airport Way in Seattle’s Georgetown neighborhood. Every Friday we would trade a few bags of our blends for growlers of their beers, a win-win by anyone’s standards. Slowly, a plan began to emerge to create a light bodied, crisp, drinkable cream ale infused with cold brewed Gusto Crema Blend. After sampling a number of coffee beers, we realized that most had a heavy body and did not feature the coffee well. We then mapped out a plan to create something different.

The Brewers at Georgetown Brewing are great people and amazing at crafting beer. They went to work in their lab to create a recipe from scratch that would stand up to having some of its volume being accounted for in cold brewed coffee – a cream ale that interacts well with cold brew.

We enjoyed a fascinating peek behind the curtain at Georgetown Brewing: tasting trials, dialing in the coffee flavor, and the brewing process. Watching their brewers cultivate the base beer gave us an appreciation for the artistry, attention to detail, and precision required for a consistent end product, which is apparent in their beers.

Stefano and Dan opened the first bottle of Gusto Crema Coffee Ale after the San Gennaro festival and shared it with the a few of the folks from Tutta Bella, our neighbors at the festival. Floral coffee aroma on the nose, light bodied, and crisp with a lingering coffee note that washed the palette, it was everything we discussed come to life! The brewery is getting positive reviews from their customers and so are we. A limited quantity of 22 ounce bottles are available at Caffè Umbria (Pioneer Square, Ballard) in addition to 64 ounce growlers available at the brewery tasting room and pints on draft available at all Tutta Bella locations. The ability to showcase coffee in a new and different way with people we respect has been amazing. Enjoy!