I’ll be brewing my first Irish Stout today (NB’s Dry Irish Stout recipe), and I’m already coming up with variations to brew down the road. One is a spinoff of my Grandma’s Irish Coffee, which she just adds a few shots of Jameson and some brown sugar.
My question is, if I want to stay true to my Grandma’s Irish Coffee recipe, will adding brown sugar add anything besides boosting the ABV? Would I be better off using soft candi sugar as a substitute if I wanted to pull some flavor from the sugar? This beer is really a tribute to my Grandma and memories of her making everyone Irish Coffee at our St. Paddy’s Day parties before her passing in 2018, so I don’t want to stray too far from her recipe.
Sláinte! 
I think you will be able to taste brown sugar because it is just sugar with molasses. Candi sugar, especially the clear will boost the ABV but it is unrefined beet sugar that ferments out almost completely so it does not contribute much, if any flavor. I usually substitute table sugar for it in Belgian recipes.
Really no rules for your own homebrew so I would brew it the way you want in honor of Grandma.
BTW her coffee with brown sugar and Jameson sounds good to me.
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You can definitely use brown sugar. I have done it in Belgian styles it is going to add a bit of subtle flavor but will dry it out as well so go easy.
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Now you got me thinking. Maybe soak the coffee beans in the jameson then add it all.
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By the way what you’re grandmother made was the real deal. Some people add cream but please don’t add creme de menth that an abomination
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Yeah, that was my plan with the coffee beans and Whiskey. Just wasn’t sure about the brown sugar. I’ve never brewed with brown sugar before (except for seasoning my roasted pumpkin for last year’s Pumpkin Spice Latte Stout), so I wasn’t sure if it would do what I wanted in adding flavor or just ferment out without leaving any flavor.
Yeah, I’ve seen people add Bailey’s or creme de menth. Not in our family.
I had a New Castle style brown Ale that employed 3/4 cup of brown sugar… It really got close…
Sneezles61
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I’ve used brown sugar before. Can’t say I got any taste from it in the finished beer. I’ve also used molasses in a porter. First time i used 4oz and didn’t really notice it. Second time I used half pound and tasted it a bit more. I felt like I’d done a version with a full pound but couldn’t find it in my notes. I got something resembling a burnt sugar/molasses taste from it.
This was very fresh, locally cooked black strap molasses and quite strong tasting so YMMV using another type.
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NB’s dry irish stout is a great recipe. I’ve used it for years with little change other than hops or yeast. My favorite yeast for it is WY 1084 irish Ale but I’ve used 1056 and 2072 which make it a little cleaner and clearer. Never been a fan of english yeast in a dry stout because they have too many esters.
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Doing the Framing Hammer Baltic Porter clone now it has 1lb brown sugar. Ive made it before. To much going on to actually pick it out on its own really.
