Kona Pipeline Porter

I’ve had many strong coffee stouts, and while they’re often great, I forget how good a sessionable coffee porter can be, like Kona Pipeline Porter for example. This is a solid porter with a pleasing coffee taste that’s easy and fun to drink.

3.8

   AROMA 7/10   APPEARANCE 4/5   TASTE 8/10   PALATE 4/5   OVERALL 15/20

Chad9976 (778) - Albany, New York, USA - DEC 28, 2012

I poured a 12oz bottle into a nonic pint glass.

Appearance: Seemingly opaque black body with blood red highlights. Forms a large, dark khaki, soapy head which retains and laces pretty well.

Smell: Dark malts and iced coffee, but nothing intense.

Taste: Plenty of sweetness up front like a sugary iced coffee but without any cloying traits. A hint of chocolate milk, lightly roasted malt and just a hint of dark cherry tartness. The bitterness increases through the middle, but remains mild enough to act as a backbone to the palate. The hops do not upstage the show here. There’s a strong coffee flavor on the end of each swig. It imparts some dark chocolate as well as creating for a slight mocha taste, though the aftertaste is rather clean.

This is a genuinely enjoyable, drinker-friendly palate, since it doesn’t go overboard in any flavor aspect. I should probably demerit the beer for being a bit too simplistic, but considering it’s intended to be a fairly mainstream porter with coffee it succeeds well in that aspect. Though technically "mild", it still works well as a dessert brew.

Drinkability: If you can drink iced coffee you can drink Kona Pipeline Porter. The mouthfeel is on the thin side for a dark beer with a cold, wet, flat texture. Not overly fizzy and far from flat, it goes down smooth with a bit of crispness to it. The body is deceptively small at 5.3% ABV as it has the robustness of something bigger, but doesn’t weigh you down like something of the imperial size might. Good for newbies and veterans alike.

 Grade: 8/10