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A uniquely brewed beer was recently developed with the collaboration of three local businesses.

It’s called the single origin mocha stout — produced by Eel River Brewing and packed with Humboldt Bay Coffee Company’s single origin Peruvian roast and Dick Taylor Chocolate’s single origin Madagascar cacao.

Based in the small town of Scotia with a pub in Fortuna, Eel River Brewing specializes in craft brew and was the first certified organic brewery in the country.

For years the brew masters wanted to expand their selection to encompass a chocolate-coffee-milk stout designed to utilize the smooth and creamy finishing characteristics of a nitro poured brew. They also wanted to develop a local collaboration program to source high-quality ingredients.

“We knew we had these awesome local companies, Humboldt Bay Coffee and Dick Taylor Chocolate, that were making fantastic things in their own industry, and they’re awesome people,” said Eel River Brewing operations manager, Matt Vivatson. “So we said, this is what we want to do and we came together and it was a piece of cake.”

The beer was launched at Eel River Brewing’s pub on Wednesday night. Humboldt Bay Coffee’s Director of Marketing and Graphic Design Sonny Wong was live painting at the event. He’s previously worked with Eel River, designing the artwork for their popular Emerald Triangle IPA. Wong’s finished art piece will highlight the three businesses and serve as the tap sticker and artwork for the new brew.

“We’re super beer fanatics,” said Wong. “So anything with beer we’re cool with. And we knew they would make an awesome product and they did.”

And although the collaboration was a no-brainer, when you’re using ingredients beyond malt and hops, the process becomes more complex and requires precise brewing methods.

“It’s not just chocolate bars they stuck in the beer,” said Dustin Taylor the creative director and co-owner of Dick Taylor Chocolate. “You really need the husk (the shell of the cocoa bean), as well as the roasted nibs, that they used in a separate process. So those two things are something very unique we were able to add to the process.”

In this LoCO Video Report we learn more about the companies involved, how the beer is created, why it’s a point of significance in the quality of products being made in Humboldt, and the power of working together.