Kooinda Milk Porter

Brewed by Kooinda Boutique Brewery
Style: Porter
Rosanna, Vic, Australia

Serve in English pint, Shaker

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Initially I thought the aroma was weak, with perhaps too much coffee and leather, which is a turn off. But behold: this beer was going to surprise me as a spectacular MILK STOUT! Nice and thick like black paint, it pours with a very creamy head, speckeled with brownish bits. In the glass, the aroma opens up into dark chocolates and freshly squeezed orange juice. It is bizarre, but that orange acidity acompanies the flavour not as a bitter tone, but as a sour one, of course. The sweet chocolates, caramels and prunes expand themselves throughout the palate with a silky, sour fiziness, tingling all over. There is only a subtle bitterness, with a clever use of hops for a sweet stout. This is a medium bodied beer, very creamy, and just because it has "porter" on the name, there is nothing in this world that will convince me that this is not an extraordinary, delicious Milk Stout.

330ml bottle. A hazy deep brown beer below a decent beige-coloured head that settles to a stable collar. Nose has strong roasted coffee bean and dark chocolate notes with a trace of vanilla. Taste is mainly malt sweetness with the coffee and chocolate elements again to the fore and a low bitterness to the finish. Palate is milky smooth and medium-light bodied with a low carbonation. An enjoyable Porter but rather lacking the bitterness of the best examples of the style.

Bottle at Taps Beer Bar, Kuala Lumpur. Poured a dark mahogany colour with a reddish hue at the edges and a thin tan head. The aroma is smoky and malty, but somewhat weak. The flavour is medium to weak bitter with malt, liquorice and a little alcohol bitterness on the palate. As it was named a "milk" porter, I was expecting a little creamy smoothness, which wasn’t really there, but hell to it, it’s still a decent beer!

Bottle from my buddy Martin brought back from Melbourne. Colour is dark chestnut brown, reddish at edges and opaque dark brown. Off white head dissipates to nothing. Nose is chocolate, milky, caramel, lactic, alcohol. Taste is cocoa powder, milk chocolate, lactic. Finish is roasted bitterness. Nice sweet porter.

Poured coal black with big brown head that actually stayed the whole journey. Aroma sweet malts with hint of coffee and chocolate, pleasant but a bit simple. Taste an interesting coffee/chocolate blend with long cocoa finish. Sily on palate with soft creamy carbonation, but thin of body. Overall, lacked complexity but with full flavours, I don’t care.

Bottle from mane liquor. Dark brown pour with a beige small head. Nose is rather sweet with hints of vanilla, mocha and roasted malts. Taste is well balanced just the right amount of roasted malts combined with a caramel mocha type sweetness to smooth it out. Nice bitterness leaves the palate coming back for more. I really like this one good to see Aussie brewers making quality stuff

330ml bottle. Pure deep black in colour with a wave of thick tan foam. Raster malt aroma with some bitter dark chocolate in the mix. Sits in the outhouse well with some dark chocolate and aniseed in the flavour. Nice sweet finish.

Bottle from Mane Liquor. Pours very dark brown with a small off white cap on top for the duration. Nose is sweet. Vanilla, lactose, anise, roasted malts and a touch of mocha. Quite balanced in aroma and taste. Milk chocolate and roasted malts with ahint of liquorice in the taste. Quite a creamy mouth feel with spritzy carbonation. Dry finish. Nice stuff

From a 330ml bottle on 14/9/2012. Pours close to black with a big, fine light tan head. Has a milky, chocolatey aroma, with a touch of roasted malt. Sweet milk chocolate, some caramel and vanilla dominate the flavour, with a mild roasty bitterness finishing it off. The body is medium and carbonation spot on. An enjoyable sweet porter.

Pours black with a large, growing head. Nose shows chocolate, roasted malt and nutty notes. Flavours focus mainly on 1-dimensional roasted malt, but include some sweetness, presumably from lactose. Too highly carbonated. Not bad, but a bit too sweet and plain.