If you will recall waaayyy back in the early days of the blog I said I wanted to find the worlds best oatmeal stout. Said that here. All the way back in December of 2009. Well my search is over. I’ve had some awesome oatmeal stouts in the mean time, with the best being (until now) Southern Tier’s Oat.
But that’s a side note in this story about Cat Poop. See the Civet cat is an unusual cat indeed. Most wild cats are strict carnivores, they only eat meat. Oh, sure they will eat the occasional grass, but that is usually in an attempt to get themselves to throw up something that didn’t agree with them. Vegetables and plant’s aren’t typically a part of their diet. However to every rule there is an exception, and the Civet is the exception to this one.
There are actually about 12 different kinds of Civet, but the one that I’m talking about is the Asian Palm Civet. This curious little feline loves to eat Coffee Cherries. This is the red fruit that is actually harvested for coffee. The bean is inside the cherry. The Civet will eat this cherry and its stomach only digests the fleshy part of the cherry and the seed comes out with the cat’s poop. The seed or bean is then harvested (gross I know) from the poop and makes for one of the worlds most luxurious coffees, and the most expensive. There is typically only about 1000 pounds of Civet coffee harvested per year, and the cost is about $600 per pound! In some places a cup of this highly prized coffee can cost over $100.
This is the coffee used in Mikkeller’s Beer Geek Brunch Oatmeal Stout. And I must say it make’s the $1.00 per ounce price tag of this beer totally worth the price of admission! I was out at Brewforia last Friday and managed to snag the last bottle that was in the case, and man I’m glad I did!
This was not only the best Oatmeal Stout I’ve ever had, but quite possibly the best beer I’ve ever had. I’d easily put it in my top 5 of all time. I don’t normally do this but I looked on Beer Advocate to see what they had it rated at, and they gave it a 95…World Class in their book, and in my estimation that was a low score.
This beer poured an inky black with ample foam head. I’d call that cappuccino colored. The mouthfeel was exquisite, between medium and full with a nice milky consistency that coated my palate with it’s delicious chocolate and coffee goodness. The flavor was beyond compare. The roasted malts, hit first with a sweet chocolate undertone, then around mid palate the civet coffee is just startling and brilliant with its luscious flavor, and finally a slight hint of hops appears and blends perfectly with the other flavors in a Crescendo of mind blowing goodness. I know I’m giving this thing a glowing review, but trust me, it deserves it. I don’t care if you have to cash in your kid’s college fund to afford a bottle of this stuff, do it! That’s what student loans are for! Take that money and invest in a couple of bottles of this beer. I think it would age pretty well, but in my house this stuff would age for about an hour! It was amazing.
Have you had it? What did you think? Talk to me in the comments.
-Don
Beer & Whiskey Brothers 
I have a bottle. Haven’t opened it yet, though. I hear and have read incredible reviews about this beer. Looking forward to enjoying it! Sounds like you did, Don. I don’t think I’ve ever read a review from you this glowing. 🙂
There are only a handfull of beers I’ve had that I’d put into this beer’s orbit. That would include beer like Utopias, 14 dogs, and I can’t think of any others right off the top. It is stellar. Wish I had your bottle, I certainly wouldn’t have your restraint if I did! 😉
Student loans are my enemy.
The beer is pretty awesome. This blog could use more cats.
The bears usually keep the cats away. Have you had it? I agree about the student loan thing, but if it came to this beer or my Kid needing a student loan, I’d tell him they build character and to suck it up! 😉
The beer is the cats meow.
If this post had been uploaded on April 1st I could have enjoyed a self-satisfied laugh, safe in the knowledge I was in on the joke.
But sometimes facts really can be stranger than fiction.
Thanks for sharing this with us. Now I’m going to have to spend the rest of my life tracking down this beer. I’ve GOT to taste it!
Bill, you won’t be disappointed when you do. This beer outshines all my hype I’ve given it here by a mile! 🙂
Once again, we agree, Don. This beer is pretty incredible. Of course, I’m a bit of a Mikkeller fan in case you hadn’t heard.
I’ve only had one other Mikkeller beer and it was their Brre Geek Breakfast which was good, but not mind blowing. This is stellar and frankly Zac, if you and I agree on this beer, we can solve all the worlds problems! 😉
Easily my favorite coffee stout…have you tried peche mortel? It’s a close second.
Nope. However Epic Brewing’s Brainless on Peaches is pretty great too!
peaches and coffee? Hmmm.
Hey Jim; I can’t drink coffee unfortunately, so I’ll never get to try this stuff.
But I do have 2 minor points of order in re your post: 1) its actually spelled civet, with an e; and 2) they’re not cats but a completely different taxonomic family altogether–the Viverridae–a relatively primitive family of carnivores and omnivores related to cats, hyenas, mongooses, and other carnivores.
I know, but I like to think of them as cats. Actually on the label they have nicknamed the beer “the Weasel” which I’m guessing that is actually the animal more closely aligned with this form of Civet, but I like the cat kind better so that is what I went with. My blog, my rules! 😉
Sorry, that should have said Don not Jim.
You know so much about so much, but you confuse us two?! 🙂
He just thought it was so well written and funny that it had to be from the smart, good looking brother. Then he had a tiny stroke and put down Jim instead… 😉
Yep, I knew Don wrote it (sounded too yucky for a metrosexual to try–LOL) but I still put Jim’s name in there–go figger.
So Don, you’re into things that pass through the south end of a cat/weasel huh? My dog likes what he finds in my cat’s litter box…but I don’t consider that to be a recommendation. 😉
Wow, my dog too. Maybe there is something to it. :^)
One of my favorites…I’ve got a pair in the cellar for a rainy day.
Way to practice self restraint! I can’t wait for next year’s version of this brew!
I’m saving them for a very special tasting with my girlfriend, her cousin, his wife, and her brother. The tasting will be Three Floyds 15th Anniversary Ballerstout, preceded by all of its component brews. The components are De Struise Black Albert, Surly Darkness, Mikkeller Beer Geek Brunch Weasel, and of course Three Floyds Dark Lord. It’s gonna be EPIC.
I ordered this for the store I manage, but have been hesitant to try. After reading this post, I ended up buying a bottle and sharing it at work. The reviews were mixed – I loved it, but a few of my co-workers didn’t (mostly because they won’t drink anything darker than Bud Light). But a couple others liked it too, even with the Civet knowledge. If it weren’t so damned expensive, I’d buy a few bottles every week.