[1] What is hard coffee?
What if in a year, you can only drink one: coffee or alcohol?
Such a difficult choice, isn’t it? Well, there is no need to fret. The solution to such dilemma is to simply combine both… In short, Hard Coffee.
While coffee and alcohol in one drink may seem to be heaven for other people, hold your horses on being sceptical about this as I tell you more about this beverage.
I will start with Pabst Blue Ribbon’s hard coffee.
On July 1, 2019, PBR debuted its new product: hard coffee. As of the date mentioned, it is only available in Pennsylvania, Maine, New Jersey, Florida and Georgia. The company wants to see how successful this product will be before going all out.
It is made using Arabica and Robusta coffee beans and rich, creamy American milk. It’s great tasting vanilla infused premium iced coffee with a 5% ABV kick.
But wait, isn’t this what caused trouble to Four Loko?
Well, not really. Four Loko is a line of alcoholic beverages sold by Phusion Projects and their recipe formerly included caffeine. According to FDA, caffeine is an “unsafe food additive,” that’s why Four Loko’s product was banned. However, FDA permits adding coffee, a natural source of caffeine.
Moreover, according to FDA, 200 mg of caffeine mixed with alcohol gives a person a Blood Alcohol Content of 0.08. If either of the two exceed, it could be dangerous. The caffeine content of PBR Hard Coffee is so low, you’ll need to drink seven cans of it before you reach the 200 mg threshold. Because an 11 ounce can of PBR’s hard coffee only contains 30 mg of caffeine.
Now that that’s settled, let’s talk about its taste.
According to those who have tried it, it is very sweet. It’s like chocolate milk, with no perceptible alcohol except for a little kick at the end. It might be nice with ice or maybe you could cool it more in the fridge. This might just be perfect for those with low alcohol tolerance or those who just don’t fancy the taste of alcohol.
[2] How is it different from coffee liqueur?
Liqueur coffee, from the name itself, is a coffee drink with a shot of liqueur. It is a variant of Irish coffee, a cocktail with hot coffee, whiskey, sugar and usually topped with cream.
It is a traditional drink in Galicia, Spain. In that country, it is more known as Carajillo.
It has many names, depending on the country and on the ingredients, but this beverage can also be considered hard coffee.
[3] What is spiked coffee?
Whenever you are hanging out with friends, or maybe when you are at a party, it’s always nice to be creative with the foods and drinks.
How about trying spiked coffee?
Spiked coffee is also basically the same as above. Coffee plus alcohol. Of course, people can get creative and add other ingredients to make the drink more delicious and unique.
[4] What are the top hard coffee brands?
Spiking your coffee with some alcohol is nice and all, but sometimes, you just don’t have enough time to do that. Here are some hard coffee brands that you will definitely enjoy:
This Brazillian coffee comes from the FAF coffee farms in the Sao Paulo State where the crops are of high quality and are free from fertilisers and pesticides. The cherries are naturally processed where they are carefully dried in the sun as a whole fruit, enabling the seed to be marinated in the fruit before it is extracted. This contributes to a rich, buttery body and silky chocolate notes.
It has no flavourings or imitation, just Grade 1, forest-grown speciality Ethiopian and Brazilian coffees, a touch of Demerara sugar and distilled British wheat spirit.
5 cl costs £6.00; 35 cl for £20.00; and 70 cl is £31.00;
- Patron XO Café (35%)
This one might be a little pricey but it is definitely worth it. With £25.00 for a 350 ml, you can enjoy a fresh coffee, chocolate and vanilla aroma, then a taste of fresh roasted coffee with notes of chocolate and light tequila. It has with a smooth yet dry finish.
It includes finest premium silver tequila from the brand Patron from Jalisco Mexico and refined by aromatic Arabica coffee.
- Chase Espresso Vodka (40%)
This is made from Ethiopian coffee and a base of Chase’s English Potato Vodka. It’s slowly distilled through a copper gin still, then cold-brewed, chill-filtered and blended with more coffee.
A 700 ml bottle costs £37.80.
It is light in colour and not overly sweet. This full-strength vodka delivers that intense burst of coffee but without being excessively bitter.
- Mr. Black Coffee Amaro (28.5%)
A bittersweet blend of top grade Arabica coffees and Australian Wheat Vodka. With half the sugar and ten times the coffee of old liqueurs, this is a must try for those who want to have taste of hard coffee.
A 700 ml bottle costs £33.95.
- Faith and Sons Coffee Gin Liqueur (37.5%)
Gin and coffee, who would’ve thought, huh?
Roasted green coffee beans are then cold pressed and finally combined with Faith and Sons own dry gin to produce a slightly chocolaty drink with a kick of peppery juniper and orange.
With £39.95, you can get a 500 ml bottle.
- Fair Café Liqueur (22%)
This produces a great taste by slowly roasting the best organically grown Fairtrade Arabica coffee beans to extract the fine, authentic properties of the coffee. The freshly ground beans are then infused directly into the liqueur base to create a rich-flavoured coffee based spirit.
This is more similar to an espresso and is slightly syrupy. It is also a little sweeter, for those who are not fond of a bitter taste.
A 700 ml bottle costs £25.00.
- Aber Falls Coffee and Dark Chocolate Liqueur (20.6%)
This liqueur perfectly balances the roasted, aromatic flavour with the bitter-sweet hints of dark chocolate. It creates a deliciously rich flavour and a velvety sweet finish.
£23.94 is all you’ll need for a 700 ml bottle.
- Cazcabel Coffee Liqueur (34%)
You can try a 700 ml bottle for £25.45.
Rich and aromatic, this is made using their Blanco Tequila as a base and is blended with coffee.
The amount of chocolate in this blend is profound but there is a dry and sour kick of booze in the end.
[5] Is there a recipe for hard coffee (list two or three recipes)?
If you don’t like the list above, and maybe want to try mixing your alcohol with coffee, here are some hard coffee recipes that you might want to try:
- Hot Boozy Coffee
Prepare the following ingredients:
.5 shot Brandy
.5 shot Grand Marnier
.5 shot Kahlua
4-5 oz hot coffee
1 orange peel
.5 cup whipped cream
.5 tsp sugar
Whip the cream in a bowl with an electric whisk or you can do it in the blender until soft peaks and then add sugar to taste. Lightly “burn” the orange peel with a lighter to help the oils come out that will give more flavour to the coffee later.
Put the brandy, grand marnier, kaluha, and freshly brewed coffee in a container and stir with the orange peel. Add some whipped cream on top and it’s ready to be gulped down.
- Iced Irish Coffee
For the ingredients, you’ll need the following:
2 oz Tullamore D.E.W. Original
1 tsp ground espresso
2 tsp demerara sugar
2 tsp hot water
3 oz cold brew coffee
Fresh cream
Mix the espresso and the whiskey in a small bowl and let it stand for fifteen minutes. Strain through coffee filter into a cocktail shaker. Dissolve the sugar in hot water then combine it to the shaker with cold brew and ice. Shake and strain and put the mixture in a glass. Top it with cream and enjoy!
- Affogato Martini
What you’ll need are as follows:
2 oz vanilla vodka
.5 oz cream de cocoa
1 oz Kahlúa
1 scoop vanilla ice cream
This one is a little simpler than the first two because all you’ll need to do is to place the vodka, cream de cocoa and Kahlúa into a shaker with about three ice cubes. Shake until the liquid is chilled.
Pour the concoction into a martini glass and top it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
[6] How much alcohol and caffeine is in hard coffee?
As you can see above, for the alcohol and caffeine content of hard coffee, it depends on the alcohol and the coffee you are mixing together. So before going all out with your original concoctions, try to take these into account so you won’t reach the threshold and face unwanted outcomes.
[7] What U.S. states sell PBR hard coffee?
Since it is a new product, Pabst Blue Ribbon has only released its Hard Coffee in five states for a test market:
Pennsylvania
New Jersey
Maine
Georgia
Florida
It was introduced on July 1, 2019. The company says sales are strong, but it hasn’t yet announced plans to expand nationwide. If you are in one of those States, I’d suggest you check it out and satisfy your curiosity. After all, coffee and alcohol are amazing drinks that many have a trouble saying no to.
[8] What U.S. states sell Pabst hard coffee?
[9] PBR vs Red Bull: Which has more caffeine?
When it comes to its caffeine content, Red Bull’s is higher.
Red Bull is an energy drink that has the highest market share of any energy drink in the world, with 6.790 billion cans sold in a year (as of 2018). An 8.4-ounce Red Bull can has 80 milligrams of caffeine.
While an 11 ounce can of PBR hard coffee only contains 30 mg of caffeine.
Even if that is the case, it does not mean that you should avoid Red Bull altogether. It is a great energy boosting drink and its caffeine content should not cause you any worry as long as you don’t take too much of it in a day.
PBR Hard Coffee’s caffeine content is low because alcohol and caffeine aren’t really the best combination if both has too much.
[10] Bad Larry’s Cold Hard Brew vs PBR- what is the difference in ABV, caffeine content and other ingedients?
Other than the expensive coffee liqueurs listed above, and PBR Hard Coffee, there is also Bad Larry’s Cold Hard Brew.
Let’s start with the alcohol and caffeine content: The latter has an ABV of 6% and contains 180 mg of caffeine. If you will compare that to PBR’s new product, which has 5% ABV and just 30 mg of caffeine, Bad Larry’s Cold Hard Brew has more of both.
Bad Larry’s Cold and Hard Brew is made with Blackeye cold-press coffee and cane sugar that’s “blended with malt” and lightly carbonated with a blend of gases, including nitrogen for a smooth texture.
While PBR Hard Coffee is made by combining Arabica and Robusta coffee beans, creamy milk, malt beverage and sweet vanilla flavour.
[11] How is hard coffee made?
There are many ways to make your own hard coffee.
Coffee Liqueur Companies also have their own ways of making their products the delicious way that they are.
But since PBR Hard Coffee seems to be the most affordable, I will give you a quick summary of how it is made instead.
As I have already mentioned, there is no beer taste. That’s because Pabst says its hard coffee is made with “malt beverage,” which is related to beer. The company uses malted barley that’s fermented. The malt flavor and color is removed, leaving a neutral alcohol that Pabst combines with coffee, sugar, milk and vanilla to make hard coffee.
Whether you want to just buy your hard coffee or make one on your own, it’s up to you. All that matters is the caffeine and alcohol content, and of course, how much you will enjoy the drink.
