Hi-Wire Brewing Company - 10W-40: Maple Breakfast Coffee

Hi-Wire brews the original version of their 10W-40 imperial stout once per year, along with a handful of periodic small batches of different, unique variants. This month, we have the pleasure of bringing you their new Maple Breakfast Coffee edition. Production is extremely limited, so it’s wise to stock up before it’s gone.

Hi-Wire’s 10W-40 Maple Breakfast Coffee is a bold imperial stout, offering notes of chocolate, maple, vanilla, cinnamon, and – of course – bold coffee, supplied by Asheville’s High Noon Coffee. On the pour, we get a deep, opaque black with a thick, creamy, medium-brown foam that lingers. The foam retention is moderate, leaving a good amount of lacing around the glass, which emphasizes the seriousness of this stout. The aroma is a decadent mix of roasted coffee beans with secondary chocolate notes, enriched by a warm layer of vanilla which adds a subtle dessert-like quality. As we savored the aroma, more layers emerged: deeply roasted malts, dark caramel, bruleed brown sugar, deep earthy undertones, and a hint of dried blackberries. This beer’s base stout already stands strong on its own, but the special additions elevate it to a new level.

As you may know, in the Rare Beer Club we have a special fondness for imperial stouts, and 10W-40 captured our attention the first time we tried it. This limited-run version opens with layers of deeply roasted coffee, dark yet smooth chocolate undertones, shades of warm maple and spicy cinnamon – all supported by a rich roasted malt backbone and subtle bitterness. The vanilla infusion is warm and melds nicely with the lactose for a sweet quality that’s perfect for the coffee and other bitter elements to play off of. As the beer warms, the flavors all become more prominent, adding depth and complexity to this extremely quaffable brew.

Hi-Wire’s 10W-40 imperial stout foundation is substantial, offering a luxurious, full-bodied experience. Its smooth mouthfeel and fine mousse of bubbles plays well with the flavors as they linger on the palate. The finish is a long-lasting blend of dark coffee and roasted malt bitterness, creamy chocolate touches, and vanilla & lactose sweetness. Beneath the beer’s dominant flavors lie more complex notes from the stout's darker specialty malts, with hints of pepper, dark toffee, and a touch of molasses. The creamy carbonation allows this beer to drink lighter than it is while a touch of alcohol at 8% ABV adds warmth and balance.

Hi-Wire 10W-40 is built to drink now but can be aged up to two or more years with confidence. It is packaged in 16-oz cans which lends for easy storage and portability. For food pairings with impy stouts of all kinds, we love grilled rib eyes and blackened chicken, and North Carolina BBQ should pair appropriately well, also. Dessert pairings – such as Snickerdoodle cookies made with maple cinnamon sugar, maple cinnamon brownies with a scoop of coffee ice cream, or a simple maple bar – sound great to us, too. Cheers!

Hi-Wire Brewing was founded in the summer of 2013 by Adam Charnack and Chris Frosaker, and it quickly rose to become one of North Carolina's fastest-growing craft breweries. Known for producing well-balanced core beers such as Hi-Wire Lager, Bed of Nails Brown, and Hi-Pitch IPA, the brewery expanded its operations in 2015 with the opening of its primary production facility in Asheville, affectionately called "The Big Top." Also in Asheville, Hi-Wire operates the South Slope Specialty Brewery & Taproom, which focuses on wild and sour ales, and the RAD Beer Garden. They also have locations in Durham, Knoxville, Wilmington, Charlotte, and Louisville.

The creation of The Big Top allowed the South Slope location to focus on experimental brewing, particularly barrel-aged beers and sour ales. With a pilot system at South Slope, Hi-Wire can experiment with recipe development and small-batch creations, like the one offered this month. Hi-Wire has been on our radar for years, ever since our visits to the World Beer Festivals in North Carolina. Their knack for successfully brewing both traditional styles and innovative concoctions keeps us coming back. This circus-themed brewery is also committed to charitable outreach, collaborates with local artists, and prioritizes sourcing local ingredients. They aim to create a welcoming space for friends to gather, and we’re thrilled to highlight them this month.

Long-time club members may remember their delicious club-exclusive Sour Blonde with Lemon & Rosemary from early 2023. Additionally, you may recall we also had Hi-Wire lined up for our October 2024 Rare Beer Club selections – and we were due to bring our members not one but two special Hi-Wire beers that month, including a club-exclusive Kaffir Lime Leaf Sour and a variant of their 10W-40 stout – but Mother Nature had other plans. Hurricane Helene ravaged Asheville, innundating Hi-Wire’s main facility with 15 feet of floodwaters. We promised them we’d have them back in the club as soon as they were able, and that moment is now. Cheers to all the hard work the Hi-Wire team has given their business, and their community, to rise again.

You can find some of Hi-Wire’s core beers in the southeastern U.S., including Bed of Nails Brown Ale, Hi-Wire Lager, and a range of flagship IPAs like Hi-Pitch Mosaic IPA, Lo-Pitch Hazy IPA, and Double Hi-Pitch IPA. They also offer a rotating selection of session sour beers alongside seasonal and specialty releases. Over the years, Hi-Wire has earned several accolades, including being named Best New North Carolina Brewery in 2013 by RateBeer and winning gold medals at the Great American Beer Festival: in 2016 for a German-style märzen, in 2019 for a sour brown ale aged on Palo Santo wood, and in 2021 for a Japanese Dry Rice Lager made with Ben’s American Sake Koji. For the latest updates, visit hiwirebrewing.com.