Oskar Blues Death by Coconut Review

Name: Oskar Blues Death by Coconut
Style: Porter
ABV: 6.5%
IBUs: 25

It's been too long since I reviewed anything from Oskar Blues, with the last beer review being from over 2 years ago. Well today I'm here to change with that with Death by Coconut, their winter seasonal which they added to their lineup last year. It's a porter but made with coconut.

It's one of those beers which I've seen online a few times but the temptation never struck me to seek it out whether it was travelling to Wisconsin or through trade. Ah.....but since Oskar Blues is now available in Minnesota, the opportunity to try it out came across me the other day while I was at the store. Plus I had this on tap at JL Beers this past weekend and thought it was a good excuse to expedite.

Appearance - Pitch black save for a minor dark brown tinge on the bottle of the glass. The head takes on a khaki color with a mild amount of foaminess, along with the lacing which is fairly mild as well.

Aroma - Strong coconut sweetness & chocolate maltiness. I'm also getting some coffee grains along with some roasted barley. When I had this at the bar, the bartender mentioned it was like smelling coconut suntan lotion; He wasn't exactly wrong when he said that.

Taste - Sweet coconut notes followed by some solid chocolate & caramel maltiness. Middle & back end of the palate opens up to some roasted barley notes and light floral hoppiness while still maintaining that coconut sweetness. The aftertaste consists of more coconut, roasted barley & light bitter hoppiness; all of which linger for quite a while.

I'll throw this out here right now, if your not a fan of porters, this beer may cause you to think otherwise for a couple different reasons. The first being that the coconut not only balances out the other elements of the flavor but also tips it in its favor. The other reason being that my wife, who hates dark beers with a passion, tried this out and ended loving it!

For the casual craft beer drinker, this is certainly worth checking out. Some may find the sheer coconutiness(?) to be off putting but I enjoyed this a lot more than I expected to, which makes this beer all the easier to recommend.

Oskar Blues Death by Coconut - 9/10