Scott Mayer, the founder and CEO of Blended Family Spirits distillery in Roswell, dreamed up his latest creation while sitting in morning traffic thinking about grabbing his perfect cup of joe from Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee.
Mayer, who founded Blended Family in 2020, recently partnered with the roaster, whose original coffee shop is located less than a mile from his distillery, to produce Espresso No. 11. The liqueur can enhance a frothy espresso martini or be sipped alone as an aperitif. The base is made from real coffee, so it tastes like the real thing, and offers a punch of caffeine. And the necessary added sugars are a mere 11%, almost a third less than brands from competitors including Kahlua and Mr. Black.
“While we were pretty confident in our ability to create delicious liqueurs, we were definitely not experts when it comes to coffee,” said Mayer. “Alex (Maes, Land of a Thousand Hills’ director of coffee), along with some of my favorite coffee people in New York, Montreal and London shared their knowledge and we were quickly brought up to speed on the world of coffee.” He began working on the project in 2022.
Mayer said he wanted to create a low-sugar espresso liqueur without using any artificial sweeteners. “We wanted to reflect modern, American coffee culture in the flavor profile of our product.”
With Land of a Thousand Hills, the distillery team created a special blend of Rwandan and Brazilian coffees that are roasted, ground and blended specifically for the espresso used in the liqueur.
“The production team and I worked for months testing different roast profiles, blend components, and brewing methods before we arrived on a method for producing the final product,” said Maes. “The end result is much more balanced and coffee-forward than most coffee liqueurs, and the sweetness is at a level that allows the complexity of our Rwandan coffee to shine.”
Mayer said he soon found out that making espresso liqueur is hard.
“Every time you add an ingredient to coffee that isn’t coffee or sugar, you are essentially watering down the coffee,” he said. “Many competitive products use coffee flavorings and an extreme amount of sugar to compensate for this watered-down flavor.”
Mayer’s first breakthrough was making a coffee-flavored spirit to use as a base for the liqueur. Neutral spirits like vodka and sometimes rum are often used in commercial coffee liqueurs. Most are made by infusing the base spirit with either coffee beans or ground coffee, then adding sweeteners like sugar and vanilla.
Mayer filled the distillery’s gin basket in the still with 90% cracked coffee beans and 10% cacao nibs. The result was a coffee-scented, high-proof (around 170) alcohol. The next breakthrough was when the team used a blend of molasses and pure cane sugar to sweeten the product.
“The molasses added enough weight and mouthfeel to the liqueur that we were able to get the added sugar down to about 11%” said Mayer.
“I wanted it to drink like an amaro but taste like a great espresso all by itself,” said Mayer. “I think we nailed it.”
“We’re thrilled with the product,” said Maes. “It’s been very rewarding to be a part of Scott and Blended Family’s vision and to see this project go from an idea to a product that we think is head and shoulders above what is currently in the market.”
The new espresso liqueur joins other Blended Family expressions including No. 4 Peach, No. 8 Raspberry, No. 17 Triple Sec and No. 22 Blueberry.
The liqueurs can be sampled at the distillery’s tasting room or can be purchased at liquor shops around metro Atlanta for $26 per 750ml.
Founded in 2007, Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee has sourced coffee beans from the same farming communities in Rwanda since inception and supports the network by paying above fair-trade prices and creating sustainable income. The coffee shop has also invested in the communities where the coffee is grown, including building clean water facilities, medical and maternal care centers, and donating farm animals and supplies.
115 Oak St., Roswell. blendedfamilyspirits.com/tasting-room
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