Cherry Coconut Brown Ale
4 Pines Brewing Company

Appearance: Clear and very dark red/brown, with ruby highlight when viewed against a light. Strong tan head that settles but never disappears.

Aroma: Surprisingly subdued, but definitely (and obviously) the main two aspects are coconut and cherry. The coconut smells lightly toasted rather than fresh, but the cherry is more medicinal than fruity. Minimal caramel notes, but hard to pick up over the main two players.

Taste: Again, surprisingly subdued and bland. The first thing to taste is a slightly sour but mostly medicinal cherry flavour that almost comes across as artificial. This is then followed by lightly toasted coconut, and then... well... not much. There's hardly any malt flavour, no "brown ale" aspects, no hops, just some mild coconut and below-par cherry flavour.

Mouthfeel: Medium-low carbonation with medium-thin body. I was expecting something thick and wholesome...

Drinkability: I was disappointed. To be honest, this tastes like the brewer was still trying to dial-in the recipe rather than a proper release product. The flavours weren't quite right, it didn't pack enough "oomph", the mouthfeel was too thin, and it didn't really all meld together properly.

 

This is why I love reviewing beers: every day is something new and sometimes something crazy - there’s a never ending supply of weird and wonderful brews out there. Case in point: 4 Pines Keller Door Cherry Coconut Brown Ale. Someone at 4 Pines thought about putting macerated cherries and roasted coconut into a Brown Ale, it’s a narrative not uncommon with a certain Mr. Ross Kenrick of Bacchus fame, and a reason why I have consumed/reviewed so many Bacchus beers of late - a tongue as seasoned as mine yearns for the occasional crazed experimental brew. So I guess what we have here is a liquid cherry ripe (chocolate bar). I was always more of a Twix man, when is someone going to turn Twix into a beer... Ross?

Poured from a 500ml bottle into a nonic pint.

A: Clear cola-coloured body with a slightly pink-tinged khaki head that settles to around half a centimetre. Aye there be cherries in this brew me lad. What is with 4 Pines obsession about fining their beers? Let us have a bit of haze FFS. 6/10.

S: Cherries and coconut mingle with a hint of vanilla, exactly as it says on the can - if you like cherries, and you like coconut, you’re in a cherry-coconut fantasy land mon frere. The main question with this and many other fruit addition beers is: does it smell artificial? In this instance I would say (_) - that was me holding my right index finger and thumb about 5 millimetres apart. Real deal with this I reckon. 8/10.

T: Hits with sour cherry from the beginning, though it’s not overly tart, it’s just enough to make you think “hmmm, sour note”. Then in comes a whole load of not much, yeah yeah the cherry and coconut flavours are there, but whatever happened to that whole sweet/bitter dichotomy that beers are universally renowned for? This is dry, cracker dry, middle to finish. Aftertaste hints at cherry. TBH this is much more bland than I was expecting. The major problems are body (mouthfeel) related, which could have been sorted out with oats... needs oats bro. 5/10.

M: Surprisingly (and detrimentally) thin in body with a watery middle and some carbonation thrown in for measure. 5/10.

D: This brew had promise in the aroma but completely fell apart from there onwards - it’s far too thin, muted and missing sweetness/bitterness to live up to its promise, oats would have fixed that... maybe a bit more ABV as well (although 5.5% is nothing to scoff at). Another disappointment from 4 Pines, didn’t expect it from a Keller Door though, bring back the Oaked Baltic Porter already! 5/10.

Food match: Cherry ripe choc bar - need to get that sweetness from somewhere.