Kona Pipeline Porter

Brewed by Kona Brewing Company
Style: Porter
Kailua Kona, Hawaii USA

Great coffee flavor. Best Kona brew I’ve had. That being said, I’ve had much better porters.

2009 Bottle - Pours thin brown with a small tan head...aroma is cocoa and coffee malt, roasty grain...flavour is similar, burnt coffee adds come bitterness to the chocolate, thin malt keeps this pretty dry...I get some sort of chemically aftertaste of coffee, so I didn’t really dig that, but overall better then the other Kona stuff...

Bottle. Pour was dark with a chocolage and coffee aroma. Flavors blended very well together with a nice light roast, medium chocolate, and medium and smooth coffee all in a medium bodied brew. Very fine.

From the Bottle at the GABF Colorado Convention Center, Denver 09/10/2008 Rich fruit aroma. Black and fruity with some alcohol present. Crisp and dry coffee roast finish.

12 oz bottle into a pint glass, on mainland after visiting the actual brewery and them not having any on tap. A bit disappointed in this one, honestly. Pretty mild in aroma and flavor for a beer boasting Kona Coffee.

12oz. Bottles: Aroma of coffee, chocolate, roasting, light malts, and a hint of caramel. Poured dark brown in color with a small, thin, tan tan head. Clear. Very sparkling. Light to medium sweet flavor. Tastes of chocolate, coffee, tar, slight smoke, tobacco, and slight lactose. Medium body. Dry texture. Average carbonation. Chocolate, coffee, tobacco, and malt finish is a little sticky.

I used to live in Hawaii and frequently drank Kona coffee when I lived there. I thought that a coffee porter from Kona with Kona coffee would be very dry and roasty, and this beer was quite a bit more mild-mannered than I expected. I thought it would be superlative in terms of dryness and roastiness, and it wasn’t that. It poured a pretty dark brown, and looked a little thin going into the glass. Aroma was definitely coffee-ish, with some nice maltiness. Aroma was pretty mild in intensity. Flavor was dry and of coffee, but a little watery. I am no coffee connoisseur but I swear I could tell that the coffee notes I detected were of Kona coffee, versus the Starbucks Sumatra Extra Bold I usually drink in the morning. I thought powerful coffee would equal very bold coffee notes, and I didn’t get that here. However, the beer was very dry with not a lot of sweetness, which I liked and thought fitting for a coffee porter (many of them have to what to my palate is a very sweet taste) and thought appropriate for the kind of coffee represented here. Hawaii is lovely and everyone should visit, but I can’t say that if I were flying there tomorrow this beer would be the first thing I sought out there upon arrival. A huge thanks to JaBier for giving me this bottle!

Draft @ the Taphouse Norfolk. Pours dark brown in color with brown head. Aroma malty, coffee and chocolate. Taste coffee, chocalate and little thin with bitter finish.