Beer Review: Pipeline Porter by Kona Brewing Company

Kona's Pipeline Porter is the last beer I drank as part of the Open It! online event.  This beer is my brother's favorite beer, and when I went to Vegas I brought him back a six pack as an early Christmas gift.  He was pretty blown away, he expected just one, lonely single bottle.  Pipeline is a highly regarded Porter and only has a limited bottling run each year.  Coffee flavors in this beer are not just from malt, but also from 100% Kona coffee that is added to each batch.

Tasting Notes:
Poured a deep brown into a Pipeline Porter shaker pint and a nice tan head formed.  Strong coffee aroma with malt and chocolate behind it.  Coffee also dominates the flavor profile of this beer.  The malt brings a nice sweetness and there is no bitterness from the coffee as one expects.  A very smooth beer with nice carbonation and balance.  Definitely worth picking up given the chance.

Fire Rock Pale Ale by Kona Brewing Co.

I first had Fire Rock at a pool bar in Florida.  I ordered a different beer and then belatedly noticed a  tap handle I had never seen before.  I used my good looks and charm to get the bartender to pour me a free sample.  I immediately fell in love with this one.  It became my mission to get to Kona, Hawai'i.  In March I made it there and tried every beer they had on tap or bottle.

Now this beer has not been waiting for a special occasion.  I have been saving the glass for a special occasion.  My recent trip to Las Vegas allowed me to bring back a couple bottles of this brew.  The Kona Brewery shaker pint is made of blue glass.  This glass was to be my souvenir from Hawai'i.  Unfortunately, the glass was no longer sold due to consumer complaints about breakage.  Beer Bitch being the woman she is tracked down a set of two on eBay and gave me one heck of a good birthday gift.

Tasting Notes:
Poured into my blue glass and therefore you cannot see the color or head, but I can tell you  it is copper with about a one finger head that results in some superb lacing.  It has a nice citrus hop aroma, and is less hoppy than one would think for an American Pale Ale, but not bad. Flavors of pine and biscuit swirl together with a citrus finish.  A medium body with solid carbonation, this is an excellent Pale Ale and should not be missed if your in an are where Kona distributes.

Old Chub by Oskar Blues

Welcome to my first blog post reviewing beers as part of Open It!.  Open It! is about opening beers that have been sitting on a shelf waiting for a special occasion.  This weekend is that special occasion.

Old Chub is a Scotch Ale by Oskar Blues of Lyons, CO.  I was saving it for that first cold, snowy night in Chicago.  Coincidentally, the first night of Open It! occurred on the first cold, snowy night in Chicago.  Like all Oskar Blues brews this beer comes in a can making it more shelf stable than its' buddies in bottles.  You can read more about the benefits of cans here.  I am glad this was the first beer for Open It! because it really hit the spot.


Tasting Notes:
Old Chub poured from the can into a shaker pint glass with a tan head and a dark brown color.  The nose has some alcohol with lots of malt aroma.  The creamy mouthfeel brings light smoke mingled with flavors of chocolate and coffee.  At 8% ABV its is not a session beer, but definitely drinkable.

Open It Weekend

This weekend is Open It Weekend.  I first heard about this event from Pencil and Spoon.  Any beer drinker has bottles of stuff he or she has been saving for a special occasion.  The idea behind Open It is that now is that special occasion.  All weekend I will be twittering using the hashtag #openit when I pop open another bottle or can.  I will have reviews of each beer on my blog this week.  Thanks to the people over at http://www.pencilandspoon.com/ and http://www.mybrewerytap.com/ for inspiring this!