Going into this tasting, I didn't know much about Maui Brewing Company. I knew they were based out of Hawaii. I knew that for some reason, they insisted in putting all of their beer in cans. And I knew that CoCoNut Porter was supposed to be good. And that's about it.
As it turns out, Maui has a pretty good reasoning behind putting all their beer in cans. The logic is that by putting beer in an environment where it has no chance of light exposure until being opened, it eliminates any chance of damage due to light (light is bad news for beer and can create the dreaded phenomenon known as "skunking"). In addition to protection from light damage, Maui claims that by not producing bottles, they are reducing the amount of broken bottles on the islands that generally find their way to the beaches. I'm sold.
CoCoNut Porter is a dark beer brewed with hand toasted coconut. Coming from Hawaii, the use of coconut makes sense and I'm expecting this beer to taste a lot like a Mounds bar. The label reads "...like hot chicks on the beach." We'll see...
The beer pours a deep dark brown with a cream colored head that disappears a little too quickly. I picked up a lot of roasted malts and coffee off of the scent, but not too much coconut. Hmmm...
I was expecting this beer to be pretty sweet, but there's barely any sweetness. The dominating flavors are coffee and roasted malts with some bittersweet chocolate mixed in. I was a little surprised. For a beer that's called "CoCoNut Porter," it didn't taste a whole lot like coconut. As the beer warmed, I finally began picking up a hint of coconut on the finish along with a hint of milk chocolate sweetness. The mouthfeel was really light for a porter and it kind of felt weird drinking a beer this dark that felt like a lager in your mouth. Overall, this beer has some good elements, but "...like hot chicks on the beach" it is not.
Final Grade: B
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