Whisky barrel aged. Conditioned on small batch APERTURE Roasters whole coffee beans, single-origin cacao nibs, and hand-processed vanilla beans.

Impressions of: dark chocolate covered espresso beans, Irish coffee, roasted hazelnuts.

Most of the time, trade ships — from the Hanseatic League to today — try to make the best use of their resources. The ship is full when it leaves port and empties along the way as they deliver goods. Ideally, the ship fills up with a haul from different stops on its way back to make good use of the whole trip. This is the backhaul.

What if, on the outbound leg of the journey, a Baltic Porter was stored inside of Catoctin Creek barrels with whisky-soaked staves made from Virginia oak. And after a year, at one stop and then another on their return journey, they sought out the finest ingredients available and added them to the barrels. Single-origin cacao nibs. Hand-processed, whole vanilla beans. And coffee. Single-origin, small batch coffee from our buddies at APERTURE Roasters. Hand delivered and still warm from the roaster when they were added to the beer on its final leg before bottling.

The result is this singular offering of Hansa Backhaul Baltic Porter.