Bo & Luke - Heaps
Against The Grain Brewery

So bo and luke is one of my favorite beers, and I go nuts for their variants as well.

However, I hate coconut in my beers so this will be interesting. I picked this 2021 variant to try first as I have low expectations.

The smell of coconut in this is so faint that im optimistic. Im not, however, getting nearly as much base stout as normal. This is peculiar, i just really don't smell much at all. Do I have covid?

So initial taste is quite good. Smacks you with a level of sweetness that no other bo and luke has had (not saying thats good or bad, just saying). You taste the coconut up front because you expect it, but really, its a huge smack of vanilla up front. The coconut become clear on the finish but it never had that potent oily sunscreen smelling taste. It finishes really bitter. Im not sure its actually more bitter than regular b&l or if its just in contrast to the sweetness you were subject to moments earlier. Im not getting as much smoke (if any) as I expect, but rather a lot more char/burnt flavors.

Feel is always stellar with b&l.

Overall its far from my favorite variant and not even close to the level of regular b&l. Its actually probably the worst one of all of them that I've had but I am still enjoying this. That says a lot for just how highly I regard these stouts.

As I get to the end of this beer I'm liking it less and less. It's too sweet then bitter bipolar. Very little integration and melding of the differing facets.