It sounds odd, but it's not really that strange if you think about it. Coffee and beer (generally the darker styles) actually share a lot of flavor or aroma characteristics. You can have beers or coffees that are bitter, chocolaty, smoky, sweet, or any other of a plethora of descriptive terms for even the slightest unique flavor notes.

So why not combine the two great tastes that go great together? There are micro and craft brewers that offer beers infused with coffee or that simply showcase coffee flavor tones without actual coffee in the brew. Check out Brooklyn Brewery's "Intensified Coffee Stout" or Lagunitas' upcoming Cappuccino Stout. For something with coffee notes but no additional brew in your brew ;-) check out Stone Brewing's Smoked Porter.

If there are any others out there that, like me, like brewing both espresso and beer, you can always make your own brew-within-a-brew...brew. Just take a darker style beer recipe or kit (porter, stout, etc.) and add about 16 oz. of freshly brewed espresso into the wort before you pitch the yeast. Then comes the long, hard wait for fermentation...but you can relax and enjoy many a homebrew (espresso or beer) until it's ready for bottling.

-Milan
Whole Latte Love Technical Support