Perrin Kona Brown

Brewery: Perrin

Type: Brown Ale

Alcohol: 5.5%

Country: USA

I always look forward to getting a cup of coffee at my favorite diner when I am home in the US. Not because it is particularly good, but more because it is a unique and nostalgic feeling. The diner is probably where I had some of the first sips of coffee in my life. Before I knew what a french press, or an espresso was, there was the white cup filled from a big round carafe by a speeding waitress. So when my brother told me about this brewery who made a brown ale that try's to mimic that cup of steaming americana, well I had to give that a shot. This beer is made from kona coffee from ferris roasters in Grand Rapids Michigan a little fancier then your average diner beans). It was so interesting I had to order a howler (the little brother of a growler) of the stuff to share at home with family for Christmas.

Pours a light brownish clear amber color with a thin white head. The nose is all coffee. More specifically the grounds left behind when cold brewing a cup of coffee. Nothing beats it past that coffee barrier in the nose. The description says it tastes like a cup of coffee at your favorite diner on a Sunday morning. For those of you who maybe have never had that experience, then yes it does capture that taste very well. Super round and mellow coffee flavor is the entirety of this beer. This is not a heavily roasted coffee, but very soft tasting, with a mild roastiness and a slight chocolate cream note. If you set this in front of someone in a chipped white porcelain mug, I could almost guarantee they would ask you why you were serving them cold weak coffee. That brings me to the biggest flaw in this beer, its mouthfeel. Very thin and watery. While this works for the premise behind the beer, it doesn't necessarily make it a very fine specimen in the brown ale category. If it had a bit more body, and a bit more malt character I think that would blend well with the big time coffee taste. On the other hand that would distract from the cup of sunday coffee feel of the beer, so maybe it is exactly what it needs to be. Its also a sessionable beer, and I saw a lot of people ordering big pints and growlers. All in all a very nice beer, I found it really interesting and amusing to have a coffee replicate a cup of diner coffee so perfectly.