Honolulu
Aslin Beer Company

 

 

 

The beer pours absolutely no head. It is headless. There is nothing, not even some little bubbles. The beer itself has a pretty good look to it with a slick and oily looking dark chocolate black color to it. It looks really smooth.

The smell is absolutely wonderful with a delicious mix of the bourbon, coconut, and caramel note. The bourbon is the strongest note but is more along the lines of being sweet with no fire to it. The toasted coconut is moderate and blends well with bourbon. The coffee does come out a little with a moderate roasted finish.

The taste itself is absolutely delicious and wonderful. Like the smell, the bourbon is still the strongest note there with the toasted coconut mixing well with it along with an indulgent caramel note.

The feel is good. It has a heavy body but is very drinkable and creamy with very little carbonation.

Overall, this is a fantastic beer worth getting a hold of if you can.

 

500 mL bottle released 3 weeks ago, poured into Kane chalice and allowed to warm.

L: Dark black. Almost no head on pouring, no lacing, just a very thin brown ring.

S: Chocolate, coffee, coconut is subtle. Bourbon barrel and bourbon with roasted malts.

T: Very unusual taste. Definite notes of coconut with oaky bourbon barrel and bourbon. You pick up a lot of the elements of a black forest cake (i know, weird, right?) - cherries, chocolate, vanilla. Some coffee on the finish, along with a bit of alcohol heat. It is a bit sweet before the heat and there's a bit of a score docking due to that.

F: Full-bodied, no carbonation to speak of. This gets a big feel score due to the high degree of difficulty in pulling this off. Flavors are nicely melded and ABV is controlled pretty well.

O: It's ambitious and quite good. Just a tad too sweet and the nose is surprisingly muted, but it's definitely world class.

Great beer. A bit on the sweet side is the only hang up. Appearance, smell and body are fantastic. Just a bit too sugary sweet for me.