You know those seasonal beers? The ones released for just a few months, then retired? I've lost my heart to one—Kona Brewing Company's Pipeline Porter.

Pipeline Porter was publicly released last September, but I, for my sins, only discovered it last week, and it's going to be "retired" in March. It's a typical Porter, dark, rich, with a barely discernable hint of hops (made with Warrior, Millenium, Horizon and Perle hops). Pipeline Porter's malts include Pale, Carapils, Victory, Caramel 80, Extra Special, Chocolate Malt, Dark Chocolate Malt, and Roasted Barley. The alcohol level is a reasonable 5.4%. But Pipeline Porter's main claim to fame is that it's also made with freshly roasted 100% Kona coffee grown at Cornwell Estate on Oahu. And yes, you really can detect both the coffee and the chocolate, but it's still a Porter, dense and sort of . . . chewy. It's dark in color, as it should be, with a tinge of red. The smokey/roasted grain tendency of Porters in general makes chocolate and coffee natural flavor matches, but this is the first I've seen made with coffee, though I've had several lovely chocolate stouts.

In 2007 Pipeline Porter won the bronze medal in the Coffee Beer category at the
Great American Beer Festival, Colorado, and the silver medal in the "Other Beer" category at the Australian International Beer Awards. It's gotten some very solid reviews; I note that I'm not the only one to fall swiftly into love. I'm broken hearted that Pipeline Porter is going away, but I'm going to make the most of the next couple of months.