Barley Legal Coconut Porter
Palo Alto Brewing Company

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Picked this up while I was up in northern California, and I was really hoping for a nice bold coconut flavor, something I had never had in a beer before. Unfortunately, despite the name, there is not much coconut to be found here. It's a pretty average porter across the board. It has some coffee and roasted malts on the nose. Flavor is mellow, cocoa and malt, and some roasted bitterness lingers. Maybe, MAYBE a hint of coconut, but that's probably just as much a fabrication because I want it to be there more than it actually being there. Mouth feel is light, a bit too watery, and overly carbonated. Overall, certainly nothing repulsive, but not what it is advertised as.

 

Dark brown in the Duvel tulip with a decent foam. Carbonation is on the coarse side but plenty spritzy on the tongue. Mouthfeel is a little oily and light bodied.

Burnt malt dominates the first taste. Modest hoppiness with a decent flavor. Some bitterness in the aftertaste. A touch of butter, or maybe coconut oil. Quite drinkable as long as you aren't expecting any coconut. And maybe that's not a bad thing. Still, it's not much of a Porter, but certainly thirst-quenching with kind of a charred watery flavor.

From the 22 oz bottle bought at Coit Liquor in San Francisco.

 

 

Thanks to Rado for sharing this one at drewone's tasting.

Pours a clear brown with a foamy khaki head that settles to clumps of film on top of the beer. Small dots of lace slowly drip into the remaining beer on the drink down. Smell is of dark roasted malt, cocoa, and a slight coconut aroma. Taste is much the same with a mild roasty bitterness on the palate with each sip. This beer has a good level of carbonation with a crisp mouthfeel. Overall, this is a pretty average beer compared to other coconut porters I have had in the past.

 

 

I got this in a bottle stating that it's brewed by Hermitage Bwg in San Jose. Since Palo Alto Brewing is in Mtn View, and so is Tied House, and Hermitage and Tied House are sister companies of some sort (I know from the website, beers, etc.), I wonder if these are together, too, but have no idea. Anyway, I should add that this beer already is listed in two places here as a beer of both Firehouse Grill and Hermitage Bwg. However, I am adding it in the Palo Alto list because this is where it belongs. Someone may have had at at Firehouse and it may be brewed by Hermitage, but the bottle says "Brewed and Bottled for Palo Alto Brewing Company by Hermitage" and the Palo Alto website (see above) shows this beer as one of theirs whilst the other two do not list this amongst their beers.

Anyway, this is a fairly good porter but not great and ends up being a bit thin and one-dimensional, although it has some character.

Dark brown, almost black, it has a medium-big tan head soon thinning to a thin ring.

It has a ice, full porter/sweet stout aroma of nice rich coffee mocha and coffee candy, roastiness, with something extra hard to pin down, which may be due to the coconut even though I do not actually detect any coconut as such.

Taste is not as good. It starts a bit sweet with charred prunes coffee, fermented burnt bread, then finishes with a peppery-burnt bitterness. The latter soon takes over and it ends up being a bit thin in character and one dimensionally burnt-bitter in taste with some vague prune. No coconut as such is evident. Feel is pretty good, somewhat full and slightly silky - just enough so that it is not watery. It is rather flat after the very start.