Hales Coconut Porter

Brewed by Hales Ales
Style: Porter
Seattle, Washington USA

Aromas of chocolate, roasted malts, coffee, and coconut. Pours dark brown with some nice red hues and a thin beige head that lasted. Chocolate and roasted malt, some sweetness follows in the form of chocolate and coconut. This segues into a nice roasty earthy bitterness in the finish as well as some sweetness from the coconut that fades in and out. Really enjoyable.

On tap on site in Ballard. Smells and tastes like German chocolate cake. Quite delicious. Finishing hops are mild allowing coconut flavor to linger

On tap at The Front Door Pours out a dark brown almost black topped with a small tan head. Aroma of coffee and roast malts. Tast a touch of the ???fake??? coconut maybe??? A nice touch of sweet chocolate and roast.

On tap at the Front Door. Pours a deep brown with a thin beige head. The aroma is mostly roasted malts and some chocolate. The taste mostly coco, chocolate, roasted malts, and a nice, but light, coconut flavor. Really a nice beer, but too thin. Overall, a good beer that I hope to drink again.

Tap @ Front Door: Pours opaque black, a tall proud tan head with lots of lacing. The nose is earthy with dirt and lots of vanilla and light tropical drink notes, some light coconut, but it doesn’t really come across as so. Roasty and super dry maybe with a hint of vanilla. The flavor is similar; dry mouthfeel, light chocolate sweetness and subtle roast all wrapped up in a powdered pina colada mix. Decent finish though as the coconut fades, the malts and hops come forward a little. A bit more sweetness or more coconut would do this well. I wonder in what form they used the coconut, I’m guessing toasted...

Draft @ The Front Door: Pours a deep, dark chocolate colored brown with a nice, creamy tan head. Aroma is more mocha and coffee than anything else. Light roasty notes. Tastes roasty and chocolatey with some light bitters. Very small amount of coconut sweetness. The bittersweetness in the trailer seemed to be competing with the sweetness of the coconut.

Draft at Collins Pub. This was known as "Tropical Train" on the menu, and probably on the tap handle, for whatever that’s worth. Still, black, viscous-looking body. Headless, laceless. Roasty sweet candy bar thing happening on the nose--there’s chocolate and caramel in with the coconut, and they meld into a familiar sweetness that’s very like a candy bar, but it smells fresher and less processed than a packaged, say, Almond Joy or something like that. Comes on fairly big and oily, but not in a blown-out Imperial sort of way. It’s big for a session beer, not big by the ’round-the-horn-sized beers standards. If that makes sense. Nice roast, chocolate, and coconut sweetness on the mid-palate, with a fairly mild chocolate finish. Solid effort. There’s a reasonable risk I’ll kinda forget about this beer, but odds are it’s a bit of a go-to if the wind is right next time I see it.

An atypical, but nearly extraordinay invention from Hales. Black with a coconut ring of head. The aroma and flavor speak of coconut coated German blackforest cake. A solid base porter with chocolate, coffee, and deep vinous notes accentuated by the vein of coconut. Well done!