Because you should never have to choose between caffeine and beer.
We've been making an espresso stout pretty much since we opened up shop in West Philly a decade ago, but for the past few years we're been working with our pals at Bean2Bean, a local, Philly-based coffee roaster that supplies a handful of restaurants, diners, bagel shops and cafes with their Fair Trade certified beans.
Just about every fall and winter now, we brew up a batch of Bean2Bean Espresso Stout using a custom blend they came up with for Dock Street that melds with and accentuates the flavors of our malt profile.
We first met Obel D. Hernandez, the Brand and Marketing Director and the "son" part of the father-son duo that heads up Bean2Bean, at a bowling alley, as one does, and have been appropriately and satisfactorily caffeinated ever since.
Actual photo of us since we first linked up with Bean2Bean:
Obel D's father, also named Obel (hence why we're using a middle initial for Obel D.) founded the company in 2013, after almost an entire lifetime spent in the business of beans.
Obel's career started with a 20 year gig as a coffee taster for Maxwell House coffee. He traveled the world for Maxwell House visiting farms and running quality control in Colombia and Brazil in South America, Costa Rica and Mexico in Central America, and Vietnam and Singapore in Asia, to name just a few stamps in his passport. He also worked as a roaster and quality assurance specialist for Caribou Coffee.
Just in case you're not already impressed, there's this: He's one of 25 people in the world who is licensed to grade coffee for the New York Stock Exchange.
Obel D. joined in 2015, following in his father's footsteps although the Temple grad has a background in sports - he's worked for the Houston Astros, Minnesota Twins and New York Mets. (And, before that, put in time at Walt Disney Company as well.) Also in 2015, family friend Jonathan Pastore, a St. Joseph's University graduate with two decades of experience in the food and beverage industry, joined Bean2Bean, heading up business development and customer relations.
So, you can see why we're fully confident that Dock Street fans will love catching a buzz, in every sense of the word, from Bean2Bean Espresso Stout, now in cans and around town.
First stop: Fitler Square Farmers Market on September 23.
