Over the last year, Stone Brewing (one of my favorite brewers) has been releasing one time run collaborations with different brewing companies. These beers are run in one fairly small batch, making them fairly hard to find. I had not had one at all, but then I heard about the most recent one, I made it a point to get one.
It was collaboration with Maui Brewing, and Hawaii home brewer Ken Schmidt. It is a Kona Coffee, Macadamia Nut, Coconut Porter. Coffee, and Porter, 2 of my favorite things, and I LOVE coconut, so I figured I had to get one of these.
It was released the middle of Sept. The day it was, I was at Whole Foods, talking to the beer buyer, whom had never heard of it and not sure if, they would be getting it. I stopped at Bevmo, AJ’s, Cost Plus, and Total Wine, none of which had heard about it yet. I started calling Sun Devil Liquors, Topps Liquors, no luck. After a week, I started getting discouraged. I ended up talking to a person at Whole Foods that stated she didn’t even think they would be getting it!
Another week or two went by, and I basically gave up. Yesterday, for what ever reason, after picking up my 8 year old daughter, we were driving to pick up my baby daughter, and we drove past Whole Foods, and I decided to swing in and grab a case of Bigfoot for the up coming camping weekend. Well, they didn’t have any more Bigfoot, and am I glad they didn’t. I went down to the Stone section, and low and behold, there it was!
I grabbed 3 12 oz bottles ($6.99 a piece!)
I was going to save them for a special occasion, but last night, I could wait, I poured one, and sat back, ready to enjoy.
It was VERY dark. Had a slight coconut, toasted coffee aroma. I was excited!!! I took one sip, and was a little disappointed. Not as much flavor as I would have figured. Then I realized that it was VERY cold. So I decided to let it sit for a few minutes, and let it warm. Boy, am I glad I did!! Totally different beer after a little warming. Very complex! Not a lot of coconut flavor, but a pretty strong macadamia suggestion. Mostly coffee however. Not like brewed coffee, but more like a taste of a roasted espresso bean flavor. A very rich, full flavor. Very complex. It finishes with another hint of coconut, and a sort of chocolate covered macadamia nut.
This is the first beer I ever “set out” to buy. Most of the time, when I find something in limited release, I sort of happen upon it. This is the first time I ever made a point to get something hard to find.
Honestly, this may not have been the greatest beer in the world, but the quest I went through to find it, I think really added to my enjoyment of it. The “thrill of the hunt” so to speak. It was a lot of fun, and I plan on keeping an ear out for something else to try and hunt down. When I do, I’ll be sure and write about it!Learn more about Stone at http://www.stonebrew.com/
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