Okay, this isn’t really a Prairie Beer related story, but I drank the beer on the prairies, so that must count for something. A couple of friends were in Hawaii recently and brought me back from Kona Brewing, one of the island’s premier craft brewers, a bottle of their latest seasonal, Pipeline Porter. One of my favourite things is receiving a gift of beer from friends (note to all: such gifts will always be met with gratitude, return offerings of homebrew and, now, maybe gratuitous credit on onbeer.org).

I tried it recently and thought I a quick review might be interesting to a few of you. – especially those inclined to travel to the balmy Pacific. The label says it is a porter brewed with Hawaiian coffee. While coffee often goes best in stouts, where the bean-y roast blends well with barley roast. But porters can work as well, given that robust porters also offer a bit of dark malt roast. My suspicion is that you need to go a bit softer on the coffee when using a porter as a base beer.

So what was this version like? Well, it poured a dark mahogany brown, offering only a thin, off-white head that disappears within seconds. The aroma was coffee, coffee, coffee with a bit of malt sugar to sweeten.

The sip presented a sharp tingly sensation upfront and only a bit of malt sweetness. It had not as much body as expected for style, which is a bad sign. In the finish I detected coffee roast which built through the linger. No toffee or chocolate notes in the beer – things I would expect from a porter. In general, it was rather one-dimensional, simply too sharp and fizzy.

Is I feared, they may have overdone the coffee and not paid enough attention to other dark malts, like chocolate and dark crystal, to round out the body. The coffee impression may go better in a stout at the level they add. Overall a beer with too much roast without a malt base to support it.

Not that I am sad to try it. It was fun to sample something not available on the mainland of North America. I haven’t had anything else from Kona Brewing, so don’t let this seasonal prevent you, on your next trip south, from giving it a try. In fact, their willingness in such a hot climate to experiment with a coffee porter suggests to me they are willing and able craft brewers. This is not necessarily the easiest style of beer to produce in the world – requiring much attention to balance and subtlety.

I have the best friends, don’t I?