A truly different coffee experience…

As passionate foodies we are constantly looking at the international food and beverage space, admiring innovations and throwing our support behind the ideas that are pushing the whole sector forward.

The craft beer ecosystem has been one that we have had our eye on for a while.

What started as a boutique offering for a very particular niche customer has now launched itself into the mainstream and is building from strength to strength. A literal handful of non “big brand” lagers and ales used to be all that you could get in your local bottleshop, let alone being able to grab something on tap that wasn’t a household name out of CUB or Lion (not that there’s anything wrong with the big boys - they still make great beer!), but the entire space has now been turned on its head.

Launch back into today and the big boys are well and truly into craft offerings at this point because that beer type is dominating bottle shop shelf facings and a huge range of IPAs, specialty ales and limited run beers are taking up big real estate across Australian bar taps.

Why is this relevant for us as coffee roasters and for you as our customers? Because it reinforces the need for innovation, the shifting complexity of the Australian consumer palate and a want to marry a couple of our favourites - coffee and premium spirits.

So on that note we are pleased to announce the launch of Old Sea Dog (OSD).

This is one that has been in the works for a while and it has taken every second of that time to get it right. We were looking to create a coffee bean that held the experience of high end liquors without any residual alcohol and without tasting anything short of a perfect infused match.

So infuse we did - and the final product is better than we could have hoped.

There’s quite a bit to the process (and some of that is trade secret of course) but we’ve found a way to bring green beans and top shelf alcohols together. The beans we are using are 100% Arabica and from our own top shelf - then once integrated with a select spirit we age the product in oak and roast to a medium dark.

The first batches are ready for you to taste and we’re expecting this to be a must have around town in bars and restaurants.

The name “Old Sea Dog” is in honour of my old uncle Eric “Kanga” Kennedy. He was an incredible story teller and fisherman. One of my favourite stories from him ended with the punchline of “Old Sea Dog”.

“Kanga” was an instrumental support in the early days of starting our coffee business. So it seemed more than appropriate to name an alcohol infused product “Old Sea Dog” in his memory.