Beer Review: Pipeline Porter

Price: $8.99 for a six pack
Brewery: Kona Brewing Company, Kona, HI
Style: Ale, Porter
ABV: NA
Color: Black
Aroma: Chocolate, roasted coffee, roasted barley, slight hint of citrus
Body: Medium
Stomach Aspect: Medium.
Head: Tan, loose, tiny bubbles, poured ok but faded very fast.
Head Retention: none, this is a big letdown from this beer.
Taste: Strong coffee flavor on the front and back of the tongue, hint of chocolate grains as is a small presence of Roasted Barley, all around mid-tongue. Good hop flavor at the back of the tongue, nice malty finish.
Conclusion: This brew has been around the local Portland brewing scene for about two years now, maybe a little longer. The aroma of the brew is very refreshing with it's hint of Chocolate grains, and strong coffee presence. Looking at the brew and there is no mistaken this for anything but a Porter. Tasting the brew and your tongue comes alive immediately. The initial flavor of Chocolate malt is very nice, when you move the brew to the mid tongue you get a very prominent flavor of Roasted Barley. But the "kicker" is when you get the brew near the back of your tongue and the Kona Coffee flavor comes to life. It is very pronounced in this brew which is nice because sometimes a brewery will kick out a Coffee Porter and it's like they phoned it in when they added the coffee. This brew boldly states is made with coffee, so take it or leave it. When I was buying Porters and Stouts years ago before I started brewing this is the beer that opened my eyes when it came to dark beers. The Deshcutes brews (Black Butte & Obsidian Stout) were all I was drinking, then this little flavor nugget came around and I now make this my backup when I have to buy beer. It's that smooth. It has a good medium body, a nice "chewy" aspect, and wonderful malty finish. Overall, this is a good beer, but it's still not as good as the Captured by Porches, Un-dead Porter. Now, while this brew is good in a bottle, you have to experience it on tap (with C02) to truly get the flavor profile, and creaminess of the beer. The only place I've found it on tap was at a Pizza Hut between Aloha & Hillsboro, Oregon. On a side note, with any coffee style beers, the longer they age, the more prominent the coffee flavor becomes. So if you buy a six pack of this and don't get to it, say, in three-four months after purchase, don't worry.
Public Aspect: This brew is very smooth, and has all the aspects that all dark beer drinkers like. The brew is so good, that maybe people who normally covet the lighter beers may even stray to the darker side for some chocolate coffee porter. However, as with most dark beer it's going to be hit or miss when it comes to introducing a dark beer to a non-dark beer crowd.