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

Oskar Blues Ten FIDY Review

Name: Oskar Blues Ten FIDY
Style: Imperial Stout
ABV: 10.5%

In honor of World Stout Day, I'm reviewing Oskar Blues very own Imperial Stout offering. That's right, I'm talking about Ten FIDY and yes, the FIDY is capitalized. In case you were wondering, the name comes from it's 10.5% ABV; Were you expecting someone else.....?

To my knowledge, this is the only Imperial Stout I know of that comes in a can, though if I'm wrong please feel free to correct me. I know craft beer in cans is becoming more of a commonplace, but it's quite unusual to see this style of beer in a can. Then again, this is Oskar Blues we're talking here.

Ten FIDY pours a opaque black color with a dark brown foamy head and a large amount of lacing. The carbonation which is visible is mild in appearance.

The nose starts off with strong chocolate malts, caramel, roasted barley and toffee. There's even some noticeable hoppiness thrown in for good measure.

The roasty and malty aroma is amplified in the taste with chocolate, roasted barley, vanilla, peasted scotch smoked malts and oak. The hoppiness isn't quite as noticeable here as the nose but you can taste it if you allow it to sit on your palate long enough. Speaking of which....

The body is fairly heavy and somewhat thick and the carbonation starts out moderate but tapers off into a more mild feel.

For an Imperial Stout, it draws heavily from Scotch Ales in terms of Smokiness but it's thankfully an asset in this case.  While the smokiness may deter some people from enjoying this, it's still got a very nice mix of flavors to make this worth checking out. As for me, I loved it and look forward to having it again.

Oskar Blues Ten FIDY - 9/10

Oskar Blues Dale's Pale Ale Review

Name: Oskar Blues Dale's Pale Ale
Style: American Pale Ale
ABV: 6.5%

Dale's Pale Ale, one of the staples of my beer fridge while I was living in Chicago! What I lacked in Surly, it was made up for in Dale's Pale Ale. Now that I'm back in Minnesota and right across the bridge from Superior, I now have both. It's like karma has rewarded my good deeds with beer and now both Surly & Oskar Blues are now regulars in my fridge.

Oskar Blues is a brewery based out of Colorado and are available in several states, though I've heard whisperings and rumors on Beer Advocate that they will distributing here to Minnesota sooner than expected on account of Oskar Blues being a guest tap down in Minneapolis. We shall see for the time being.

Anyways, let's take a look at Dale's Pale Ale!

Dale's Pale Ale pours a mildy hazy orange color with a fairly foamy head, good lacing and some mild carbonation visible on the sides of the glass.

The nose has a fairly prevalent not overly strong floral and piney hoppiness up front to go along with the caramel malts and grassy scent. There's also some mild apricot fruitiness in the aroma as well.

There is a sudden citrus hoppiness in the flavor complimented by grapefruit, apricot, floral hops, and caramel malts. The grassy/earthiness that was in the nose is nowhere to be seen here. There is a fairly strong resin & malty aftertaste that is surprisingly balanced.

It terms of weight, it's a couple sets above moderate and has a slight thickness to it, but the carbonation is very light here so you're able to take in all the flavors without having to worry about irritating your palate.

To me, having this again is like hanging out with an old friend, spending the afternoon together, having lots of fun and realizing why you guys used to hang out together so much in the first place.

It's a very well rounded and balanced pale ale. It's well balanced profile of malts, fruitness and hops make this an extremely easy beer to recommend. It's not "Zombie Dust" caliber by any means, but it's good enough to keep me coming back for more. It's also decently priced so that also works!

Oskar Blues Dale's Pale Ale - 8.5/10

Oskar Blues Old Chub Review

Name: Oskar Blues Old Chub
Style: Scotch Ale
ABV: 8%

Oskar Blues Brewing started out as a brewpub in Colorado but has since expanded distribution out-of-state since it's inception. Back when I was living in Chicago, Oskar Blues was a staple of my beer fridge. That all changed when I moved back to Minneapolis. I still had a good selection, but there were still some beers which were noticeably absent from my fridge. Upon me moving to Duluth and my very close proximity to the Wisconsin border, I'm discovering new beers as well as rediscovering favorites from my time in Chicago; One of which includes Oskar Blues.

Except I had been drinking their Dale's Pale Ale and had never bothered to check out their other stuff, a choice which I regret because my hunt for Ten Fidy lingers on. In the meantime, I bring you Old Chub, Osker Blues' very own Scotch Ale.

It pours a hazy dark red color with a brown fluffy head. Head retention is pretty good and there is some visible carbonation along the sides of the glass.

The nose starts out with a caramel and peated scotch with cola, toffee and chocolate malt. The flavor has more of a distinct oak and smokey flavor to go along with it's caramel, peated scotch and cola notes.

The body is pretty light in weight and the carbonation mild, making this a pretty easy to drink beer. Impressive considering the higher-than-normal ABV for this style.

Old Chub is an excellent Scotch Ale and the light oak/smoke notes help add some much needed dimension to the flavor. Try this out, you won't be disappointed!


Oskar Blues Old Chub - 9/10