Coconut Cartel
Parlay 6 Brewing Company

absolutely delicious coconut stout, lovely recipe, cool name, i thought this was magic! coconut and vanilla, lots to like. the pour is high shine near obsidian black with more head and carbonation than many of these have, not stupidly viscous as is the trend these days, and a little lower alcohol than the absurd range, which i appreciate, this is the kind of flavored stout i actually want to spend some time with, impressive right from the start. the nose is awesome, i get fresh and toasted coconut both, an almost condensed milk richness to it, sweet indeed, with natural vanilla adding to that but adding some sex appeal, lots of roast, an espresso note, dark cocoa, possible maple character, clean on the ferment, not loaded with heavy grain, this is pretty straight forward, just a massive and awesome coconut dose! huge coconut flavor, intense but natural still, super well infused and integrated, and the vanilla accents it really well. i like that they left this roasty and bitter, some nice back and forth there with the sweet coconut. i think it boiled the right length of time too, richer feeling but not super thick, luxurious without guilty decadence, but right on the line. smooth and long on the palate, chocolatey late, subtle raisin in the mix too, and it seems fresh which is an odd thing to observe in this style but its true. impressively well refined overall, especially for how new these guys still are, and i like it having some carbonation. extremely well done, a total coconut bomb in the best possible way, they should be proud of this one! i know some of these dudes came from revision, this hits like coconut pie face, right there in terms of coconut intensity and overall quality, and that is one of the best beers those guys make!

edit: just three or four months later when i visited again they seem to be calling this coconut mafia now, and i am fairly sure its the same liquid just with a name change, less intensely flavored and rich this time to me, could just be time starting to take a little toll on it. anyone with more information let me know, still (or also) delicious.