Barrel Aged Morning Luau
Riverlands Brewing Co

22 ounce bottle into a snifter. Had 5/28/22.

Pours a dark brown, mostly opaque, with a short head and no real lacing. Aromas of coffee, coconut, roasted malt, oak, chocolate, vanilla, light bourbon. The barrels take the lead in the flavor: bourbon, coffee, coconut, malt, chocolate, some vanilla, light oak. Smooth, a very good lighter full body, well carbonated.

Lots of good coffee, and the coconut shows well. Vibrant aromas and flavors. Very enjoyable.

 

 

Shimmering black body with a brown cap that slowly fades into a ring. Nose is chocolate and coconut forward with dark roast coffee and bourbon underneath. Taste hits with barrel, huge chocolate fudge, full dark roast coffee, sneaky big vanilla and pure coconut, comes together impressively seamless. Feel surprises you will warmth/barrel character, feel more oak than tasted or smelled, otherwise a moderately viscous very smooth porter, well made

Draft pour @ Riverlands score: 4.49.

Bomber bottle score: 4.56.

For the full Review the serving format is 22oz bottle of BA Morning Luau. Poured into Durobar Charente glass.

Appearance: black bodied beer with thin cap of off white head resulting from a hard pour. Head drops down quickly to no cap. Shiny coconut oils are noted on surface of the beer.

Smell: Lightly spicy bourbon and medium roast coffee.

Taste: top shelf bourbon and fresh brewed coffee are the flavors that are swinging hard right out of the gates. Both flavors are well balanced and authentic. The coffee is lightly earthy and nutty like a single origin Central American coffee. Chocolate notes. Vanilla frosting with coconut mixed in with it. Lingering bourbon in the finish with hint of coffee and coconut. As the beer warms the coconut seems to get bigger and seems to compliment the barrel notes very well.

Mouthfeel: medium bodied Porter. Low & adequate carbonation. Smooth drinking beer. Texture is thinner than most Riverlands barrel aged offerings. This is the first barrel aged porter from Riverlands and I really like where they have the body dialed in at. Though it is thinner bodied it actually works really well here. Just the right amount of thickness so that you don't think it's a thin barrel aged beer, but it's thicker than most barrel aged porters.

Overall: Really nice barrel aged coconut coffee porter. The barrel is great, but I can't tell it's Weller barrels. Minor issue because the barrel notes are really delicious. Well adjuncted Porter; the coconut & coffee are in the proportions that I enjoy; the coffee is the bigger than the coconut which is a good thing. The coconut and coffee taste authentic; no suntan lotion coconut here and the fact that the coffee tastes like a freshly brewed cup of single origin Central American coffee is really impressive.

Bottles seem to have more coffee & bigger barrel notes. Draft pour was a coconut bomb with light barrel notes & light coffee. Yet again the bottles of barrel aged beers from Riverlands seems to be the better format.