The obvious choice for our collaboration was to add coffee to a beer, but both Bob and Dan were keen to move away from the usual dark beer/coffee combo, especially at this time of year. We took a few cans of our current pale ales to Triple Co Roast in Montpelier where we learnt the fine art of ‘cupping’. This is a specific way of tasting coffee that allows you to get the most flavour out of each coffee you try, and compare and contrast their characteristics. For Amber and me (Kelly), both non-coffee drinkers, this was an interesting experience! We tried five different coffees, and agreed on two to try with the beers. We then added those coffees to Pure Optimism and Honest Drop, and this gave us a broad idea of how the coffees we’d chosen might pair with the pale ale Bob would brew, and whether we wanted a hoppier style or a more malt-forward pale. From this we were able to nail down the coffee we wanted to use, and how the recipe could be built around it.

We went with an experimental anaerobically-fermented coffee from a cooperative in Colombia. The anaerobic fermentation process involves trapping the coffee in air-tight tanks where the temperature and humidity is closely monitored, before being processed as normal ready for roasting. Jo at Triple Co Roast says “we wanted something that displayed all the tropical flavours and florals we’ve come to love from this coffee grower’s experimental lots.”

This felt like it would be a great complement to a pale ale.  

The finished beer pours a dark straw colour and smells just like opening a fresh bag of beans. The taste is a gentle blend of floral and bitterness provided by both the hops and the coffee with fruity notes of redcurrant and cherry.

The name, NO FILTER, came from all-round brewery superstar Liam, who ironically also doesn’t drink coffee!

This beer is exclusively at Coffee + Beer on Cotham Hill in Bristol from this weekend, Friday 9th July. Here as well as the beer itself you’ll be able to get a six-can multipack of our beers including No Filter for £18. AND there’s a coffee and beer box set with two cans of No Filter and a bag of Triple Co Roast coffee for £15.

NO FILTER will then be available at loads of the great shops signed up to Indie Beer Shop Day: our full list is below and you can see who’s near you on our interactive map on google here (map as at 8th July is here as a picture!).

We’ve also featured Coffee + Beer as our Spotlight this month, where we showcase some of our favourite local and national beery retailers to say a little thanks from us for their support. As part of that we spoke to Dan about C+B, and while the edited version is on our social media now, the full interview is also here. Thanks to Dan for answering our questions so fully!

How long has C+B been running?

Four years on the 3rd of July!

Why was it first set up, what prompted the idea?

I felt there was/is a real synergy between the specialty coffee movement and the craft beer movement. Whilst they are distinctly different drinks, the ideas behind the drinks are very similar, it is all about maximum flavour and using better quality ingredients to make better products.

Both industries have rapidly come to provenance in the last decade and the UK are at the forefront of this. I believe we have world-class coffee and beer in the country and I want to showcase that to as many people as I can so I thought a shop would be the best way to do this!

What else do you sell? What’s your USP?

Mainly coffee and beer, the shop’s name is a bit of a give away but what makes us special is the fact you can try these products on site. We are a hybrid of a shop, café and bar and I don’t believe there are too many other places like us.

I feel this gives us an advantage over other shops as it is much easier to start conversations with people just starting their journey into specialty drinks if they have tasted the product first. This allows us really decipher what customers like and then makes it easier for us to offer suggestions of other products they should try.

What do you most enjoy about running the shop/having the business?

I really enjoy meeting people who are just getting interested in craft beer or specialty coffee. Maybe they have tried something from a supermarket and have released that it is slightly different from the norm and want to explore more, I can then start to recommend products to them that would suit their needs.

I enjoy the excitement and naivety of that stage of customer as we have all been there and it is the best part of the journey. I remember my first Kernel beer and being wowed by it and just love the fresh sense of enjoyment of a simple product.

Have you made any changes over the last year/want to talk about how it’s affected your business/what are you looking forward to coming out of this, business-wise?

Yeah, this past year or so has been strange to say the least. We adapted during the pandemic and did local deliveries via our web-shop which kept the business alive. It’s been tough work but also has shown me some things in the business that were working and others that weren’t working. Therefore, I adapted small things which have allowed me to have a better work/life balance!

One good thing to come out of this strange time has been the support for small independent businesses, especially in Bristol. It has been incredibly heartening to me that people will go out of their way to buy from my small business when it would have been much easier just to add products to their weekly online grocery shop.

NO FILTER INDIE BEER SHOP DAY STOCKISTS (as as 15th July – check out the map here!)

Coffee + Beer

10 Beer Bottles

33 Green Bottles

A Hoppy Place

The Apothecary Tap

Bath Road Beers

Beer Thirty Bottle Shop & Tap Room

The Beer Trap

The Beer Cave

Bottle Monkey – BeerToGo

Bottles & Books

Bristol Spirit

Corks of Cotham

Corks of North Street

Craft & Berry

DEAD Time

Drink

Favourite Beers

The Grumpy Goat

The Hive Craft Beer and Coffee Shop

The Hole in the Wall Hawk Green

Hop Hideout

Hoppily Chelmsford