Guest Video Review by Dave Coulter

It seems these days they make beer out of just about anything, and why not? In the early days of beer making (oh, you know, maybe about 5000 years ago) beer was made from barley malt and dates and figs and all sorts of good things. In colonial America, it was fermented from pumpkins and parsnips and walnut-tree chips. So why not coconut and chocolate?

Indeed, why not, and that seems to be what The Brew Kettle of Strongsville, Ohio was thinking when they brewed up Kitka Coconut Chocolate Milk Stout. This was a good idea my friends, because I happen to really love coconut, though problematically it is often difficult to translate into beer. The delicate flavors of coconut often seem to get lost in beer, but I am happy to report that is not the case here.

I hopped on over to The Brew Kettle’s website to learn more about Kitka. I can tell it’s a seasonal, but the link to details on the beer is broken on their website. The bottle label does say this about the beer:

A traditional milk stout which includes the addition of milk sugars for sweetness and body. We then ad (sic) cocoa, chocolate and coconut after fermentation to create this chocolatey confection in a glass.

Brew Kettle Kitka Coconut Chocolate Milk Stout has an alcohol content of 5.75% by volume with 22 IBUs. The label tells me this also. It’s not sold here in Georgia, but I got a bottle from my good buddy Dave Coulter (see his guest video review of this beer above).  

Brew Kettle Kitka Coconut Chocolate Milk Stout pours to a jet black color with a medium head formation of creamy tan foam and a rich luscious nose of chocolate and coconut that reminds me of a mounds bar. Taking a sip, the beer is a bit thin in body I think but hits me immediately with smooth creamy milk chocolate notes intertwined with creamy tropical coconut. The finish is balanced with roasty chocolate goodness and silky coconut milk creaminess. 

I want more body, sure, but to be fair this is a milk stout, not an imperial stout. Then too, how many coconut beers get your coconut appetite all fired up but then fail to deliver on the promised ingredient? This one delivers, my friends, and in spades. I love it, and if you’re a fellow coconutaholic, I think you will too.  

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