Spirits | United States | Forthave | Brown

Brown

NOTES

BROWN is the latest in Forthave’s color series - Aaron and Daniel’s take on classic botanical spirits

Brown is a coffee liqueur made by Forthave Spirits in collaboration with roaster Café Integral. It is a combination of a cold brew extraction and a ground bean maceration using a single variety coffee bean - anaerobically fermented Pacamará - grown by Don Sergio Ortez in the highlands of Nicaragua and roasted in Brooklyn, NY.

Don Sergio Ortez grows coffees on his farm, called El Porvenir, in the Bayuncún region of Northern Nicaragua. Sergio is a leading figure in the emergence of coffee growers as ‘vignerons’. The coffees produced at his farm often taste more of his personal signature than they do any other attribute. He is known to have one of the most ingenious wet mills, a ‘frankenmill’ that he has tweaked and perfected to yield seven unique quality grades of coffee cherry once sorted. His coffees complete their cycle close to home – his front yard to be exact – where he has his drying beds and keeps a small warehouse and laboratory to track and evaluate his coffees as they progress.

Sergio is also one of the earliest to experiment with extended and alternative methods of fermentation with his coffees. He coined the method used for Pacamará the ‘ámbar process’. Thus the bean used in Brown is called Pacamará Ámbar.
Once harvested, the Pacamará Ámbar cherries are sorted and then fermented in a combination of anaerobic environments over the course of seven days in sealed drums fitted with one-way air valves. This allows for the carbon dioxide produced throughout the fermentation process to fill the chamber while the coffee ferments. The coffee is then set out to dry under shaded beds for thirty days. The result is a transformed coffee – the fragrance emits a strong note of roasted cacao and sweet balsamic vinegar.

César Vega of Café Integral aims to bring exceptional Nicaraguan coffees to the forefront of American coffee culture. The roasting company and cafe sources all its coffees from four of Nicaragua’s finest regions; known for their characteristic depth and balance, but also for their dynamic and complex profiles. His coffees are served in some of New York’s best restaurants as well as a stand-alone outpost in the NOLITA neighborhood of New York City. His company employs a single-origin sourcing strategy to deliver coffee straight from the farmer to the end consumer.
Launched with the goal to benefit Nicaragua’s economy directly, César finds coffee both romantic and enamoring. Born in the Nicaraguan town of Jinotepe, Vega grew up in a historical coffee growing area. When he was three, his entire family moved to Miami, leading to his passion for making Nicaragua bigger, better, and more prosperous through Café Integral.

For Brown, César roasted Sergio’s beans to perfection. Half of them are used for a cold brew extraction, the other half passed to Forthave for a steel tank maceration. The former highlights the primary fruit of the bean, while the latter brings out the more savory characteristics.

Serve neat after dinner or mix into cocktails.